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WILD ANIMALS EVERY 
CHILD SHOULD KNOW 




The noblest animal in the New York Zoo is Sultan, the Barbary lion 



WILD ANIMALS EVERY 
CHILD SHOULD KNOW 

LIFE STORIES AND OTHER TRUE STORIES OF THE WILD 
COUSINS OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND OTHER 
WARM-BLOODED QUADRUPEDS 



:by: 



JULIA ELLEN ROGERS 

AUTHOR Of " TREES EVERY CHILI) SHOULD KNOW," " EARTH AND SKY EVERY 
CHILD SHOULD KNOW," " THE TREE BOOK," " THE SHELL BOOK," ETC., ETC 



ILLUSTRATED BY THIRTY-ONE 
PLATES IN BLACK AND WHITE 




Garden City New York 

DOUBLED AY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1911 






ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION 
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



COPYRIGHT, igil, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 



THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 



<P/ 



©CU300766 



AC KNOWLEDGMENTS 

Special opportunities for studying and pho- 
tographing the animals at the New York 
Zoological Park were enjoyed by the author 
through the courtesy of the Director, Dr. 
William T. Hornaday. The portraits of many 
prominent citizens of the Zoo community are 
the work of Miss Celetta May Green, whose 
patient efforts, when the subjects did not feel 
like posing, deserved the success that finally 
came. The admirable life histories in Ernest 
Thompson Seton's " Northern Animals" have 
helped greatly, as has Dr. Hornaday's 
" American Natural History," Dr. Witmer 
Stone's " American Animals " and Mr. Dug- 
more's " Camera Adventures in African Wilds. " 



CONTENTS 



A Glance over the Field . 

The Family Tree .... 

The Orders of Living Mammals 

The Families of the Orders . 
Primates: Animals with Hands 

The Man-like Apes 

Baboons and Tailed Monkeys 

The Monkey's Toothache 
Carnivora: The Flesh-eaters 
Wild Cousins of the Cat 

The King of Beasts 

The Ways of Man-eating Lions 

The Tiger .... 

An Exciting Tiger-hunt 

The Leopard at Home 

The Leopard's American Cousins 
Jaguar and Ocelot . 

The Hunting Leopard 

The Caracal 

The Mountain Lion . 

The Canada Lynx 

The Wildcat, or Bay Lynx 

The Hyenas .... 



, the 



PAGE 

XV 

xvii 
xx 
xxi 

i 

3 

8 

ii 

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*7 

25 
3° 
34 

37 

40 
42 
44 
45 
54 
56 
58 



Vll 



viii Contents 

PAGE 

Wild Cousins of the Dog 

The Gray, or Timber Wolf .... 60 

Two True Wolf Stories 65 

The Coyote or Prairie Wolf .... 68 

Foxes of Many Colours . . . . . 72 

The Skulking Jackal 80 

The Marten Family 

The Marten ........ 81 

The Mink 84 

The Weasel 90 

The Fisher 95 

The Otter . q8 

The Skunk 103 

The Badger 109 

The Wolverine . . . . . . .112 

The Bear Family 

Bear Traits 116 

The Grizzly Bear 121 

The Black Bear 128 

April News about Bears 132 

The Imprisoned Bear 137 

The Brown Bears of Alaska .... 143 

The Polar Bear 146 

The Raccoon 150 

A Coon Hunt in Texas 153 

Marine Mammals 159 

pinnepedia: the fin-footed mammals 159 

cete: the whales . ... 159 

sirenia: the sea cows 159 

The Mammals of the Sea . . . . . 161 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

Chiroptera: The Bats 170 

The Bats 171 

A Bat which had a Grievance . . . 182 

Rodentia: The Gnawing Mammals . . 185 

The Squirrel Family 

Our American Squirrels 187 

The Red Squirrel 190 

The Gray Squirrel 196 

An Incident of Harvest Time . . . 199 

The Friendly Chipmunk 202 

The Little Chipmunk of the Northwest 210 

The Striped Ground Squirrels . . . 213 

The Woodchuck at Home . . . . 217 

My Pet Woodchuck 223 

The Prairie Dog 226 

The Flying Squirrels 232 

A Night with the Night-flyers . . . 236 

Other A merican Rodents 

The Beaver 239 

The Beavers' Buildings 244 

What the Beaver has Done .... 251 

Rats and Mice 255 

American Rats and Mice . . . . 257 

The Beaver's Little Cousin, the Muskrat 260 

The Pocket Gopher 265 

The Porcupine 272 

The Hares and Rabbits 277 

Ungulata: The Hoofed Mammals . . 281 

The Animals with Hoofs 

Family Traits 283 



x Contents 

PAGE 

A. THE EVEN-TOED GROUP OF HOOFED 

MAMMALS 

Pete, the Hippopotamus 284 

Wild Pigs 289 

The Collared Peccary 291 

The Cud-chewers 

The Ruminant Stomach .... 295 

The Elk, or Wapiti 296 

How the Elk Changes his Antlers . . 303 

The Moose 307 

The White- tailed Deer 314 

The Mule Deer ....... 320 

The Reindeer and Caribou . . . .323 

Reindeer for Alaska and Labrador . . 327 

The Zoo Giraffes 330 

The Prong-horned Antelope . . . .335 
Wild Cousins of Cattle 

The Bison, or Buffalo 339 

The Big Horn and Mountain Goat . . 347 

B. THE ODD-TOED GROUP OF HOOFED 

MAMMALS 

Wild Cousins of the Horse . . 350 

The Black Rhinoceros and its White 

Cousin 353 

African Elephants at Home . . .359 

How the Elephant Makes a Living. . 365 

The Indian Elephant 370 

How Wild Elephants are Caught . .375 

Marsupialia: The Pouched Mammals . 381 

The Opossum 383 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Sultan, the Barbary lion 



Frontispiece ^ 



Lioness ...... 

Bengal tiger ..... 

Leopard and jaguar .... 

Mountain lion or cougar . 

(Photographed by A. G. Wallihan) 

Gray wolf ..... 

Red f ox . 

Mink 

(Photographed by C. C. Speight) 

Weasel . ... 

(Photographed by W. E. Carlin) 

A skunk caught at one of his worst tricks 
(Photographed by Ernest Harold Baynes) 

Otter 

(Photographed by C. William Beebe) 

Badger ...... 

Bears ...... 

(Photographed by Ernest Thompson Seton) 

Black bear . . 

Polar bear . . . 

Raccoon washing his food before eating it 
"Say! Wouldn't dat 'possum mak yo' mouf 

watah, jes' to look at 'im?" 
California sea-lion .... 



FACING PAGE 

261/ 
271/ 
40 1^ 
41 f" 

78 
7 8 
79^ 

79 
1061/ 

107 w- 

1071/ 

134 y 

134 - y 

135^ 
150 • 

i 5 i^ 
166 - 



Illustrations 

Harbor seal . . . . . . 166 ^ 

(Photographed by A. L. Prencehorn) 

Bat 167^ 

Young red squirrels . . . . . 196 ^ 

Young chipmunk . . . . . 197 1/ 

Prairie dog . . . . . 228 V 

(Photographed by A. R. Dugmore) 
Gray squirrel . . . , . .228^ 

(Photographed by A. R. Dugmore) 
Woodchuck . . . . . . 228^ 

(Photographed by A. R. Dugmore) 

A beaver and his work . . . .229*^ 

(Photographed by A. R. Dugmore) 

White-footed or deer mouse . . 258^ 

Muskrat 258 J 

Porcupine . . . . . .259^* 

Jack hare or " jack rabbit" . . .259 

(Photographed by A. G. Wallihan) 

Molly Cottontail 259^ 

Pete, the Zoo hippopotamus, posing for a 

picture . ..... 292 V 

Collared peccary and armadillo . . . 293 y 

( Photographed by A. R. Dugmore and C. William Beebe) 

A group of mule deer, suddenly aware of 
danger ....... 304. 

(Photographed by A. G. Wallihan) 

Prong-horned antelopes signalling with their 
cushion-like rump patches . . . 304V 

(Photographed by A. G. Wallihan) 

American elk . . . . . . 305 / 

(Photographed by A. G. Wallihan) 

The natural way for Juliet, the three-horned 

Nubian giraffe, to get her dinner . . 330 ^ 



Illustrations 

The giraffe, Romeo, eating grass . . 33 1> 

Gnu ....... 340* 

Buffalo cow ...... 341 ^ 

(Photographed by the New York Zoological Society) 

Elephant 368^ 

Mother opossum and young . . . 369 - 



A GLANCE OVER THE FIELD 

THE warm-blooded quadrupeds are rulers 
of the earth. The cave man was a wild 
beast, too, little better than his neighbours, un- 
til he made rude weapons and taught the wolf 
to help him in his hunting. From that time 
man has ruled the lower animals by his higher 
intelligence, and the skill of his hands. Count 
the wild beasts that he has made to serve him. 
The domestic animals and the cultivated plants 
have sprung from wild ancestors, tamed and im- 
proved through generations. The history of our 
race is interlocked with the lives of wild beasts. 

Every boy and girl loves animals. In cities 
there are zoological parks with wild animals 
from far and near. Small menageries are a 
part of the circuses that appear in small cities 
at least once a year. The desire to go to see 
the wild animals is strong, and it ought to be 
gratified. The exhibits of trained animals are 
well worth seeing. 

A collection of wild animals is, to most 
visitors, a jumble. This is unfortunate and 



xvi Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

unnecessary. The warm-blooded quadrupeds 
are bound together by ties of blood. They 
are sprung from common ancestors, and the 
groups show their relationships. In the New 
York Zoo the buildings help one to get these 
relationships fixed in mind. The elephant 
house shelters also rhinoceros, hippopotamus 
and tapirs, all hoofed beasts with more than 
two toes. The lion house has all the giant 
cats — the tiger, lion, leopard, and jaguar. 

The first chapters in this book explain what 
quadrupeds are closely related. They give 
a summary of the chief families in each order. 
In the chapters that follow are grouped to- 
gether by families the big, fierce, beautiful 
relatives of our domestic animals. 

Visits to the Zoo and menagerie will be one 
hundred times more interesting to the person, 
old or young, who grasps the few character- 
istics that distinguish the thirteen orders. 
With this equipment, it is easy to know where 
a strange animal belongs before his name is 
known. 

We cannot know many animals in their 
wild haunts, even if we live in the country. 
The wilderness recedes from the homes of 
men, and the wild animals are shy. The 
average child is as likely to see an elephant 



The Family Tree xvii 

as a weasel running wild. It is the writings of 
the field naturalist and the hunter, especially 
if they carry cameras, which bring the latest 
news of the jungle and the desert. From them 
we learn how the tiger and elephant live their 
lives — what they do when the springs go 
dry, and when men hunt them for their striped 
pelt and ivory, or to save the crops and the 
lives of people. 

No less interesting are the lives of the little 
mole and shrew — that hunt insects close 
under the cover of dead leaves and earth — 
when we come to know them well. Life is 
much the same to high and lowly: the struggle 
to live, and to defend against countless enemies, 
the precious offspring that shall perpetuate 
the race. 

THE FAMILY TREE 

All the classes of the Animal Kingdom are 
like big limbs springing from the trunk of a 
tree. Some are larger limbs than others, and 
have more branches, and the branches more 
twigs. Some are stunted, and have few 
branches. They may die out in time, over- 
shadowed by the more vigorous ones; others 
have done so. 



xviii Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

One limb, Class Mammalia , the Mammals, 
has thirteen branches, coming off at different 
distances from the base. These branches are 
called orders. A few of these are stunted, and 
look as if they would die out. They are the 
old-fashioned orders, which have few repre- 
sentatives among living animals. The egg- 
laying mammals (Order Monotremata) repre- 
sent the oldest, weakest branch that sprang 
from the parent limb. Close by Class Mammalia, 
the vigorous limb, Class Aves, the birds, leaves 
the trunk of the tree. Birds and egg laying 
mammals are alike in one important character. 

Next to the old-fashioned egg-laying mam- 
mals is the order of pouched mammals, a little 
higher, but not much, for the young are born 
so small that they do not look like their mothers 
at all, but like little knobs, as they hang on 
the teats inside the pouch. Both of these 
branches (Monotremata and Marsupialia) are 
likely to die out. The animals live in Aus- 
tralia, with only a few remnants elsewhere. 

The sea mammals, the three orders of the 
whales, seals, and sea-cows, are comparatively 
weak branches, with few divisions. They are 
not so likely to die out as those mentioned 
above. But they are not likely to grow 
stronger, as years go by. 



The Family Tree xix 

Most vigorous branches loaded with twigs 
(called families) are the land mammals — 
the flesh-eaters, the gnawers, the hoofed order, 
and, ruler of them all, Man, one branch of the 
Order Primates. 

In the tree of the Animal Kingdom, the 
human family is one of several familes that 
compose the Order Primates. The order is 
a branch on the big limb, Mammalia. The 
families are all twigs along the branch. From 
some common ancestor sprang the families 
which form the order. The family of which 
Man is the sole representative exists alongside 
of the other families in its order. We count 
this twig the most important on the whole 
tree, because Man is the most intelligent 
animal. God has established Man as the 
master of the earth — ruler of the animal, 
vegetable and mineral kingdoms; ruler of the 
sea, the earth, and the air. 



THE ORDERS OF LIVING 
MAMMALS 

I. Pri'-mates: The First Order. Man, apes, 

and monkeys. 
II. Car-niv'-ora: The Flesh-eaters. Cats, dogs, 
bears, weasels, etc. 

III. Pin'-ni-ped'-ia: The Fin-footed Mammals. 

Sea-lions, seals, walruses. 

IV. In-sect-iv'-ora: The Insect-eaters. Moles 

and shrews. 
V. Chi-rop'-tera: The Wing-handed Mammals. 

Bats and " flying-foxes." 
VI. Ro-den'-tia: The Gnawers. Beavers, hares, 

gophers, rats, squirrels, etc. 
VII. Un'-gu-la'-ta: The Hoofed Mammals. 
Cattle, deer, sheep, swine, elephant, etc. 
VIII. Ce'-te: The Whale Order. Whales, dol- 
phins, porpoises. 
IX. Si-ren'-ia: The Sea-cows. Manatees ana 

dugongs. 
X. E-den-ta'-ta: The Toothless Mammals. 

Armadillos, sloths, ant-eaters. 
XI. Ef-fo'-di-en'-tia: The Diggers. Pangolins 

and aardvarks. 
XII. Mar'-stjp-i-al'-ia: The Pouched Mammals. 

Opossums, kangaroos, etc. 
XIII. Mon'-o-trem'-ata: The Egg-layers. Duck- 
bills and echidnas. 



THE FAMILIES OF THE ORDERS 
OF MAMMALS 

I. Primates. The order of animals with hands. 
All animals with hands and hand-like feet, of 
five fingers and five toes; thumbs more or 
less opposable. 
Families: 



Man. 

Apes. 

Old World monkeys. 

New World monkeys. 

Marmosets. 

Lemurs. 



II. Fer,e, or Carnivora. The order of the 
flesh-eaters. 
Chiefly beasts of prey, with keen senses, quick 
motions, and fierce tempers, that catch and 
devour smaller animals. Sharp incisors, large 
eye-teeth for tearing, and cutting edges on 
the grinding teeth. Toes end in claws. 
Families: 

i. Cat. Walk on toes; claws re- 
tractile. Lion, tiger, leopard, 
jaguar, puma, lynx, wildcat, hyena. 
2. Dog. Walk on toes; claws not 
retractile. Wolf, fox, jackal. 



xxii Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

3. Marten. Active, long-bodied, short- 
legged; with scent glands. Otter, 
mink, weasel, marten: exceptional, 
skunk, wolverine, badger. 

4. Bear. Walk on soles of feet; 
claws not retractile; omnivorous. 

5. Raccoon. Walk flat-footed. Om- 
nivorous. 

III. Pinnipedia. The order of the fin-footed mam- 

mals. 
Feet developed into paddles for swimming. 
Marine flesh-eaters, that subsist upon fish 
and mollusks; come ashore only at breeding 
season. 

Families: 

1. Sea-lion (including the " fur seal ") . 

2. Seal. 

3. Walrus. 

IV. Insectivora. The order of the insect-eaters. 
Soft-furred, small, long-nosed mammals, with 

feet padded and strongly clawed for bur- 
rowing underground. 
Families: 

1. Mole. 

2. Shrew. 

3. Hedgehog. 

V. Chiroptera. The order of wing-handed 
mammals. 
Animals with long fingers webbed to form wings. 
Diet, insects or fruit. The bats. 



The Families of the Orders of Mammals xxiii 

VI. Glires, or Rodentia. The order of gnawing 
mammals. 
Chiefly small land animals, with strong, chisel- 
like incisor teeth in front. Feet with clawed 
or nailed digits. Diet vegetable chiefly. 
Families: 



i. bquirrel. 
2. Beaver. 




3. Mouse and rat. 




4. Pocket-gopher. 




5. Porcupine. 




6. Hare and rabbit. 




VII. Ungulata. The order of hoofed mammals. 


Terrestrial, herbivorous animals, 


of large size, 


with digits ending in broad, 


horny nails. 


Incisors often wanting in one 01 


■ both jaws. 


A. Even-toed group. 




Sub-order of 4-toed animals. 




Families: 




1. Hippopotamus. 




2. Pig. 




3. Peccary. 




Sub-order of 2-toed animal". 




Families: 




1. Camel. 




2. Llama. 




Sub-order of 2-4-toed animals (the cud- 


chewers) . 




Families: 




1. Deer — 4-toed. 




2. Giraffe — 2-toed. 





xxiv Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

3. Pronghorned antelope — 2-toed. 

4. Cattle, sheep, and goats — 4-toed. 
B. Odd- toed group. 

Families: 

1. Horse — i-toed. 

2. Rhinoceros — 3-toed. 

3. Tapir — 3-toed. 

4. Elephant ■ — 5-4-3-toed. 

VIII. Cete. The order of whales. 

Carnivorous mammals of the sea, with hairless, 
fish-shaped bodies, and fish-like fins and tails, 
yet warm-blooded lung-breathers, that bea 
their young alive and suckle them. 
Families: 

1. Whalebone whale. 

2. Sperm whale. 

3. Dolphins and porpoises. 

IX. Sirenia. The order of sea-cows. 

Clumsy, fish-like animals, with front limbs 
expanded into fins; hind limbs wanting. 
They live upon coarse grass in river mouths 
and shallow bays. 
Families: 

1. Sea-cow, or manatee. 

2. Dugong. 

X. Edentata. The order of toothless mammals. 

Strange-looking creatures, covered with hair, 

or with overlapping horny plates, that roll 

up into balls for protection. Feet clawed, 



The Families of the Orders oj Mammals xxv 

fitted for digging or climbing. Feed upon 
insects, leaves or carrion. 
Families: 
i. Armadillo. 

2. Sloth. 

3. Ant-eater. 

XI. Effodientia. The order of diggers. 

Long, sharp-nosed, toothless mammals, with 
powerful claws with which they tear open 
ant hills, and then gather the ants on their 
long, flexible tongues. 
Families: 

1. Pangolin — India. 

2. Aardvark — Africa. 

XII. Marsupialia. The order of pouched 
mammals. 
Animals of low intelligence whose young are 
born in a very immature state, and carried 
in the pouch, where each is attached to a 
milk gland until able to climb in and out of 
the pouch. 
Families: 
1. Kangaroo. 



Wombat. 
Bandicoot. 
Tasmanian w r olf. 
Opossum. 



XIII. Monotremata. The order of egg-laying 
mammals. 
Low T est order, resembling the common ancestor 



xx vi Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

of birds and mammals. An Australian group 
of animals covered with fur or spines, with 
webbed feet and flat, horny, beak-like snouts. 
Young hatch from eggs laid in nests. 
Families: 

i. Duck-bill. 

2. Echidna. 



PRIMATES 



The order of animals with hands. 

All animals with hands and hand-like feet, 
of five fingers and five toes; thumbs more 
or less opposable. 
Families: 
i. Man. 

2. Apes. 

3. Old World Monkeys. 

4. New World Monkeys. 

5. Marmosets. 

6. Lemurs. 



ANIMALS WITH HANDS 
THE MAN-LIKE APES 

THE monkey house at the Zoo, and the 
monkey cages of the travelling menagerie 
are never deserted by the eager, interested 
throng, until the lateness of the hour sends 
people home. The human-like looks and ac- 
tions of apes and monkeys fascinate us all 
We wonder what they will do next, and linger 
on to see. We tell each other that they must 
be thinking and reasoning, for they play 
tricks on each other, and seem to understand 
things in their world as well as we do in ours. 
Sometimes we cannot help saying: "How 
much this big baboon looks like Mr. So-and- 
So!" — which is true, even though it does 
not compliment the gentleman referred to. 

The monkey tribe is next in rank to man, 
and both are branches of the same great order. 
Few people think to-day that men "have 
descended from the monkeys." Both have 
descended from common ancestors. 



4 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The largest of the three man-like apes is 
a West African tailless beast, the gorilla. He 
has a black skin, and walks erect, like a man; 
his legs are long; so are his arms, but when 
they hang down, they do not touch the ground. 
He is bigger in frame than a man, with a 
skeleton of much more massive bones. His 
strength is very great, and his temper as ugly 
as his face. This hideous black giant has 
twice the weight of a large man, and he looks 
even bigger than he is, for his body is covered 
with long gray hair. His jaws are the widest 
part of the head, and the teeth are weapons 
of terrible power in a fight. So are the hands. 
But the gorilla prefers peace to war. He is 
shy, and keeps to the thick jungle. In cap- 
tivity, he is sullen, and soon dies. These 
animals are rarely captured or exhibited. In 
intelligence they rank far below the orang and 
chimpanzee. There is small room for brains 
behind those great eye sockets and that retreat- 
ing forehead. 

The other tailless, anthropoid apes are the 
chimpanzee and the orang-utan. The chim- 
panzee is black-skinned, with grayish hair, 
and has large ears. The orang-utan's skin is 
brown, his hair sandy red, his ears small. 
The chimpanzee inhabits the dense forests of 



The Man-like Apes 5 

tropical Africa; the orang, the swampy border 
woods of Borneo and Sumatra. Their homes 
are the tree tops, through which they travel 
rapidly, swinging by their arms. 

Both chimpanzees and orang-utans are in- 
telligent and quick to learn. Some of them 
are given to fits of bad temper, but in this 
particular, as in their faces, they are like men. 
They are absurd little caricatures of people. 
This is their hold upon the crowd. 

At the New York Zoological Park people 
begin to congregate about one o'clock at the 
corner of the Primate House, before the out- 
side cage in which the trained chimpanzees 
and orang-utans are to dine at three. Long 
before the hour arrives all the standing room 
that commands a view is taken. 

Promptly on the stroke of the clock the 
diners and their trainers come out. 

" Howdy-do, Susie? " " Good afternoon, 
Polly!" and other greetings are gravely 
responded to by nods from the favourites 
named. The dinner is set out on the table, 
and the demure little animals seat themselves 
in their chairs, ready to begin. Their manners 
are excellent. They eat with forks and spoons 
from their plates, and drink from teacups, 
just as people do. One course after another, 



6 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

the meal proceeds, the trainer present, occa- 
sionally making suggestions, or giving direc- 
tions, always cheerfully and quickly obeyed. 

What do these creatures think about the 
people outside the cage bars, who sometimes 
laugh until they cry, to see the droll little 
mimics following rules of table etiquette, 
like well-behaved children? Every day a new 
crowd assembles, and the same hungry orangs 
and chimpanzees delight them with their 
clever use of knife and fork and spoon. Go 
and see them, and you will not wonder at the 
popularity of this corner every summer day. 

On a hot afternoon I met a crowd in front 
of the lion house, and soon saw in their midst 
the " monkey man," leading Mimi by the 
hand and carrying Susie, who had an arm 
affectionately thrown around his neck. They 
had been very good all day, and were going 
to have some ice cream soda as a reward. They 
sat up on the high stools and enjoyed their 
treat as much, and in the same way, as the 
boys and girls on the other stools. Especially 
did they like to see their reflections in the 
mirror back of the counter. 

From the refreshment house they started 
home; but Susie complained, and was not 
happy until her keeper turned into a side 



The Man-like Apes 7 

path that led to the pony stalls. But it was 
not a ride that she wanted. She got a five- 
cent piece, by some teasing, and eagerly ex- 
changed it for a box of candy at a small booth, 
kept by a smiling young lady. 

Did Susie want a ride? She did not. The 
keeper tried to set her on the saddle worn by 
the Shetland pony. But she clung tighter to 
his neck with one arm, while she reached out 
the other and pushed the pony away, repeat- 
ing the action several times. The pony, used 
to pushing and poking, was patient enough, 
but the boys and girls laughed long and 
loudly, and Susie rewarded the " monkey 
man" for taking her away by giving him a 
piece of candy as they started home, the 
day's adventures over. 



BABOONS AND TAILED MONKEYS 

THESE tailed animals do not stand erect. 
The baboons have long, dog-like noses, 
huge eye-teeth, and marvellously strong-clawed 
hands, with which they rend the bodies of 
their victims. In East Africa they live among 
the rocks and in tree tops, and prey upon 
various animals, among them the flocks of 
the native herdsmen. They go in droves, 
and devastate the grain fields. If the people 
are timid and unarmed the baboons become 
bold, entering the villages and killing human 
beings. They savagely attack and tear to 
pieces any dogs that come their way. Only 
guns and other deadly weapons stay their 
attacks, and make them wary. 

If a " gorilla' ' is on exhibition, it probably 
is a baboon, misnamed. Look for the tail. 
No gorilla has a tail. The average baboon 
weighs less than fifty pounds, and stands ("on 
all-fours") about two feet high at the shoulder. 
He is all for a fight, and even the lions are 
afraid of him. 

8 



Baboons and Tailed Monkeys g 

More than a dozen kinds of baboons live 
in Africa, and none elsewhere. The Man- 
drill, with red and blue markings, is one of 
the most remarkable of them all. 

Old World monkeys are numerous in kinds 
and widely distributed in temperate and 
tropical Asia and Africa, and on the East 
Indian Islands. Some kinds are counted 
sacred in India, and are never harmed. No 
Old World monkeys have grasping tails. 
Some have very short tails, but none are tail- 
less. They have little resemblance to the 
man-like apes. 

New World monkeys are noted for their long, 
grasping tails, characteristic of the most im- 
portant families. In Mexico the small-headed 
spider monkeys swing themselves through 
the tree tops with amazing speed, their long 
slim bodies scarcely bigger than the long legs 
and tails. 

The long-tailed, weazen-faced little monkey 
the handorgan man sends around to collect 
pennies in his velvet cap is probably a Sapa- 
jou, and sighs for the forest home in Central 
America, where he was captured and brought 
to New York to be trained and then sold into 
slavery. 

The collection of swinging-tailed monkeys 



io Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

has many and wonderful little creatures in it, 
but they are not hardy. They die young 
and have constantly to be replaced. 

The delicate little marmosets, a long-tailed, 
silky-haired family, and favourites as household 
pets, are from Central and South America. 
They are the smallest animals in the monkey 
tribe. 

The lemurs, the lowest family of the Primates, 
are known by the long, pointed muzzle, large 
eyes, long tail and coat of long, silky hair. 
The feet and hands prove them monkeys; 
the teeth would not. They are gentle little 
creatures, curiously interested in the crowds 
that pass them every day, and they seem to 
have forgotten that, "back home" they were 
due to sleep by day. Thirty different kinds of 
lemurs are found on the Island of Madagascar. 
Several different kinds are usually exhibited, 
as they are not difficult to take care of, and 
they live peaceably, even when different kinds 
are put into the same cage. 



THE MONKEY'S TOOTHACHE 

IS IT because monkeys are so much like 
people that we laugh at them? We put on 
a broad smile when we turn toward the monkey 
house at the Zoo, because we shall need it the 
moment we enter the door. The people who ar- 
rived before us are laughing. We join in the mer- 
riment before we can see what it is all about. 

One crowd stood before the cage of two 
orang-utans, convulsed with laughter. The 
tears were running down their cheeks, and they 
were actually reeling from side to side, some 
of them — sedate people, too, who tried to 
control themselves, but couldn't. I was told 
that a monkey with the toothache was the cause 
of all that mirth, and I was ashamed of the 
heartlessness displayed. I wished that each 
person could have the monkey's toothache, 
and be caged for the monkeys to laugh at, 
if they could do a thing so impolite, which I 
strongly doubt. 

I elbowed my way through the crowd, to 
get a glimpse of the suffering creature. A 

ii 



12 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

moment later, I was laughing with the others. 
I couldn't help it, and I forgot all about what 
bad manners it was. 

Mrs. Orang had mentioned that she had a 
slight toothache, to be sure, but it was not a 
severe case. She was evidently pleased that 
Mr. Orang had heard her remark, and had 
promptly and politely expressed his sympathy. 
When I arrived, the two were sitting quietly 
in the front of their cage, on the floor, her head 
resting confidingly on his ample bosom. Both 
were rolling their eyes about, as if intent on 
some distant prospect, far over the heads 
of the crowd in front. These they took no 
notice of. 

One little wincing stir on her part called 
attention again to Mrs. Orang's alleged tooth- 
ache, and most gently, but with a bored and 
unconvinced expression, Mr. Orang proceeded 
to investigate. His long fingers grasped her 
two jaws, and opened her mouth wide, wide! 
Holding it as wide open as possible, he turned 
his head so as to give his left eye the best 
chance to explore the rows of teeth. Her 
head was turned and twisted, as well as his 
own, so that a good view of each tooth was 
gained. Then his right eye was used in 
making a thorough survey of the teeth. 



The Monkeys Toothache 13 

Not a sign of a toothache was discovered 
after all this careful investigation, and he 
cuddled her against his hairy breast, as a 
person might comfort a fretful child. His 
expression of countenance seemed to say: 
"But haven't I looked now for the seventh 
time, with both my eyes? You concede that 
it is not a bad toothache, but don't you think 
I would detect it by carefully looking if it 
were big enough for you to feel? I am con- 
vinced that you imagine this one, but I will 
keep on looking for it, if that gives you any 
satisfaction." 



CARNIVORA 

The order of the flesh-eaters. 

Chiefly beasts of prey, with keen senses, quick 
motions, and fierce tempers, that catch and 
devour smaller animals. Sharp incisors, large 
eye-teeth for tearing, and cutting edges on 
the grinding teeth. Toes end in claws. 
Families: 

i. Cat. Walk on toes; claws re- 
tractile. Lion, tiger, leopard, 
jaguar, puma, lynx, wildcat, hyena. 

2. Dog. Walk on toes; claws not 
retractile. Wolf, fox, jackal. 

3. Marten. Active, long-bodied, 
short-legged; with scent glands. 
Otter, mink, weasel, marten: ex- 
ceptional, skunk, wolverine, badger. 

4. Bear. Walk on soles of feet; 
claws not retractile; omnivorous. 

5. Raccoon. Walk flat-footed. Om- 
nivorous. 



WILD COUSINS OF THE CAT 
THE KING OF BEASTS 

THE LION of the desert is as different from 
the ordinary house cat as a big bowlder is 
from a pebble. Yet it belongs in the same fam- 
ily, and the moment we begin to look for signs 
of such relationship, we find them in abundance. 
The teeth and claws are the most important 
features. The cat will let us examine her 
teeth. At the Zoo we must stand outside the 
bars, and await the king's pleasure. But it 
is not long till he opens his mouth. He 
yawns and shows all thirty of his teeth at once, 
the chief ones being the eye-teeth, just as in 
pussy's mouth. Three above and two below, 
the teeth just back of the long, sharp eye-teeth, 
have the perfect action of a pair of scissors. 
The eye-teeth tear, the next ones cut. There 
is little grinding expected of the back teeth, 
for but one tooth on each half-jaw is provided. 
Instead of chewing, all cats cut and then 
swallow their food. Notice how the lion eats, 

17 



18 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

when feeding time comes. The front of the 
mouth is provided with six flat teeth on each 
jaw. But the cutting work is done with th& 
side teeth, almost entirely. 

Five toes on the fore-feet and four on the 
hind-feet are armed with strong, curved claws, 
that are drawn back at will into sheaths. Un- 
der each toe and under the ball of the foot is a 
naked pad on which the creature walks noise- 
lessly. The rest of the palm and sole are hairy. 

Watch the lion at his meal for more cat-like 
traits. He crouches low, and whips his tail 
from side to side, as the cat does when it has 
caught a mouse. He growls, as if warning others 
to let him alone. If another lion or a man 
approaches, or makes any attempt to touch 
his food, a snarl and a roar express his bad 
temper. A cat " makes night hideous" some- 
times, but the noisiest of all cats is the lion, 
which knows that its voice terrifies all other 
animals. It seems to express the joy of living 
by roaring all through the night. 

The lion's mane is one of the distinctive 
traits of the genus. It is worn only by the male, 
and maneless males are often seen. Long, 
thick, curling hair covering the head and fore- 
quarters gives, a look of majesty to this giant 
cat which is not shared by any maneless crea- 



The King of Beasts 19 

ture, however splendid in size and strength. 
The tuft on the end of the tail conceals a pe- 
culiar horny nail, whose use no naturalist 
seems to be able to explain. The colour of 
lions is tawny yellow, shading to much darker 
hue on mane and tail. The bases of the ears 
are black, and so is the tail-tuft. In the 
same Utter are individuals with light and dark 
manes. 

The long hair on the belly is found only 
on lions in captivity. The superb manes of 
caged lions are not matched by those of the 
lions of the wilderness. The life of the chase 
wears off this great fur collar. Creeping 
through matted jungle reeds, and thickets of 
thorn bushes, and lying by day in rocky lairs 
offer the free lion few of the luxuries he enjoys 
in a sumptuous lion house, where meat is served 
him promptly on the stroke of the clock, each 
day, and water when he needs it, and he could 
not, if he would, ruffle his coat very badly on 
the smooth walls and floor. In fact, the captive 
lion looks fat and lazy, very well content to 
live a life of ease, and let the passing crowd 
look at him, exchange words of admiration, 
and pass on. 

A lioness is never so gentle as when her 
pretty kittens take up all her time, and she 



20 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

is never so terrible as when defending them 
from harm. They are very active and playful, 
like any other kittens, but more independent 
from the first, for they are born with their 
eyes wide open, and so miss the days of help- 
lessness that common kittens have. Two or 
three is the usual number of lion cubs born 
at once; sometimes it is four. They are March 
or April babies. 

We might not take them for lions at first 
sight, they are so thickly covered with woolly 
coarse hair, distinctly barred with dark brown 
bands that encircle the body, and dark spots 
on the limbs. The tawny ground colour is 
almost hid by the decorations. When the 
males are full grown these stripes and spots 
have. almost disappeared, and the females re- 
tain them only on the limbs. Leopards and 
jaguars and tigers, all barred or spotted (or 
both) through life, are a closely related group 
of the giant cats. Somewhere back along the 
line of its ancestors the lion, too, can claim 
close relationship with the ancestors of the 
group named above. Every litter of lion cubs 
tells the story of such a common ancestry, 
even though the plain colouring of their parents 
argues against it. 

The mother lion soon adds flesh to the milk 



The King of Beasts 21 

diet of her babies. It is not wonderful that 
they are eager learners of the art of stalking 
game. At six months, they go out with the 
lioness by night, and by the time they are a 
year old the mother is looking on, and no doubt 
criticizing the captures made by the young- 
sters. More zeal than skill is used by these 
inexperienced cubs, for they mangle their prey 
unnecessarily, and earn many a parental cuff 
for poor workmanship. 

For some reason, fewer male lions grow to 
maturity than females. It is common to see 
lions in groups of one male with two or three 
females. Groups of a dozen or more are 
often banded together for the rounding up 
of game — a plan that benefits them all. The 
two parents go out for game, when there are 
young cubs in the lair. Two males have 
been partners in more than one man-eating 
campaign. 

The terrific force of the blow a lion can 
strike is not exaggerated, but hunters say that 
a lion does not kill by striking. A blow on 
the back will disable a large animal, and pre- 
vent its running any farther. With one paw 
on the shoulder, the other on the nose, the lion 
drags its victim down, and despatches it by a 
bite on the neck. When the attack is a rush 



22 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

in front, as is the lion's method with large 
antelope, the rearing creature is apt to break 
its neck by a backward fall, if the lion fails in 
its first attempt to reach the throat. Hornless 
animals and small deer are bitten on the back 
of the neck. The entrails are neatly removed 
through an opening made in the flank, and 
buried, before the feast is begun. 

If water is close at hand the lion drinks 
often during a meal. If not, a long draught 
of water is taken after a full meal and before 
retiring to the lair. One drink a day is enough. 
The early morning or late evening are the times 
that hunters expect to find lions coming to the 
water holes. 

The carcass that is too large for a single meal 
is dragged to a suitable place, and there covered 
with leaves or other rubbish by its rightful 
owner. Then he drinks and retires for the 
hours of daylight. Night is the time for lions. 
They are nocturnal beasts. The twilight calls 
them out, fresh and invigorated, and hungry. 

The lair may be a burrow under a long 
windrow of tall grasses. Or it may be hidden 
by the thick growth of reeds in a swale, or in 
an impenetrable jungle of thorny scrub. On 
dull, wet days, lions are restless, and often 
reveal their hiding places by muttering and 



The King of Beasts 23 

moaning. Only in regions undisturbed by 
hunters do lions sleep near their "kill." 

The roaring of lions is one of the terrible 
sounds, especially when the beasts that utter 
them are at home on the open, sandy stretches 
of the borders of desert country, where they are 
masters of all creatures except armed men. 
The roar of several lions, uttered in concert, 
makes the earth tremble, and the air vibrate 
with the force and volume of the sound. Es- 
pecially terrifying is such a concert when the 
forest is lashed by a sudden tropical storm, 
with frequent blinding flashes of lightning 
cleaving the darkness, the king of beasts 
adding his voice to the wild tumult of the ele- 
ments above him. Quite as loudly does the 
lion roar on dark, frosty nights, when the silence 
seems . to magnify by contrast the uproar he 
makes. This boisterous outburst of sound 
strikes terror to the quaking hearts of the lesser 
beasts. The ominous silence that follows the 
roaring means that the lion is noiselessly stalk- 
ing a victim. 

In the lion house at the Zoo the crowds of 
people shudder at the voices of lions that 
occasionally utter angry roars behind the bars. 
Travelling showmen prod Leo in his cage, 
to make him roar for the satisfaction of onlook- 



24 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

ers, many of whom have never seen a lion be- 
fore. But lions bred in captivity, and tamed, 
have lost the spirit of wild creatures. They 
will "roar you as gently as any sucking dove/' 
perhaps, and you go away thinking that a 
lion's roar is not so much of a roar as you had 
expected. It is the African hunter who knows 
that it is the most awe-inspiring sound in 
nature. 



THE WAYS OF MAN-EATING LIONS 

A LION does not like a man. He resents his 
presence in the neighbourhood. If a man 
and a lion meet suddenly on the trail, the lion 
usually retires, after seeing that the man keeps 
a brave front. A growl and a flourish of the 
tail show the beast's ill-nature. If the creature 
is hungry, or if it be a lioness with cubs at 
home, the hunter must shoot, or meet the 
spring that means death. Of lions in South 
Africa, Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby wrote in 1899: 
" Lions are justly dreaded at night, when 
they become bold, fierce and aggressive; and 
as they generally make use of game tracks, or 
footpaths when moving, the risk of walking 
along these at night in lion-infested districts 
is very great. A lion is seen at his best (or 
worst) when at bay, standing with lowered 
head and crest erect, his tufted tail twitching, 
his lips drawn back from the red gums, show- 
ing the great white fangs, and living fire flash- 
ing from his eyes, while he keeps up an inces- 
sant hoarse growling. No animal can look 

25 



26 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

more utterly savage, and the sportsman who 
faces him must 'hold straight.' To follow a 
wounded lion into thick covert is a dangerous 
proceeding, and calls for the utmost coolness 
and nerve, as the animal invariably sees the 
sportsman before it is seen by him, and in 
most cases it charges/ ' 

Colonel J. H. Patterson, the engineer in 
charge of the construction of the Uganda 
Railroad, brought three thousand coolies from 
India and distributed them in various camps 
along the route. Two lions had their dens 
near the line of camps, and these shrewd 
creatures terrorized the workmen by taking a 
coolie nearly every night for nine months, in 
spite of all protective measures, and attempts 
to kill them. 

For years these beasts had preyed on the 
domestic animals of timid tribesmen, and an 
occasional human victim made them more 
bold, and whetted their appetites. The coolies 
were paralyzed with fear, and the lions took 
advantage of this fact. 

Early in the evening the roaring began, as 
the lions circled the camp, and gradually drew 
near. Then came silence, during which one 
of the beasts acted as watcher, while his com- 
panion managed to creep through the fence 



The Ways of Man-Eating Lions 27 

of dense thorn bushes, and enter a tent for 
his nightly victim. Once he sprang through 
the tent door and carried off the mattress 
instead of the man that lay upon it. In an- 
other dash, the lion got his claws upon a bag 
of rice, which he abandoned after carrying 
it some distance. But these mistakes did not 
often happen. 

The beating of tin pans, and the sight of 
flaring torches had no effect upon these des- 
perate hunters, and no fence withstood their 
strength and cunning. They went from one 
camp to another, and so the few men brave 
enough to use a gun against them could never 
know where to expect them. At length, decid- 
ing that caution was not needed, the two lions 
acted independently, and the number of vic- 
tims was doubled. The coolies refused to 
work, and those who stayed in the camps 
slept in trees, on top of water tanks and in 
other elevated places. Then only, did the 
lions notice the baits that had been put out 
for them. And then they were shot from 
platforms. Never was a coolie taken as he 
worked at railroad-building by day. 

The strength of one of these lions was equal 
to dragging a mile a half-length of rail, weigh- 
ing two hundred and fifty pounds, to which 



28 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

were tied two full-grown goats, besides the one 
he killed. 

Male lions weigh about five hundred 
pounds; they measure between nine and ten 
feet in length, and stand forty inches high 
at the shoulder. With all their strength, they 
do not carry their prey clear of the ground, 
but drag it. They leave off climbing as they 
grow up, and instead of leaping over fences 
and other barricades they make their way 
through them. The ability to spring forward 
is not outgrown. A spring of twenty feet 
from a slightly elevated bank is probably 
an unusually long one. 

The natural range of the lion extends from 
Africa through Syria and Persia to India, 
where they are now restricted to the Gir 
Forest of the Khatiawar district. Where 
savage tribes only are their human neigh- 
bours, lions can hold their own. But civilized 
man not only makes war upon the lions with 
deadly firearms and good marksmanship, but 
he kills and drives out of the country the wild 
game on which lions depend for their food. 
South Africa once had a distinct tribe of lions 
of its own, larger than the Barbary lion of 
the North and marked by its remarkably long 
and thick black mane. It is now extinct, 



The Ways of Man-eating Lions 29 

and lion-hunting in the region is long past. 
The fierce Barbary lions are becoming very rare 
in the states of North Africa. Lions still 
roam in the eastern and western states. East 
Africa is a favourite resort for lion-hunters 
now. 



THE TIGER 

DO YOU remember, at the very beginning 
of " The Jungle Book," that little Mowgli, 
the man-cub, took refuge from Shere Khan, the 
Big One, in the wolf's cave? The mother wolf 
adopted him, and as he grew up, and the 
beasts made friends with him, Shere Khan, 
the tiger, was his enemy still, and intended 
one day to kill him. But his wolf mother, 
when she named him, made a prophecy: "Lie 
still, little frog. O thou Mowgli — for Mowgli, 
the Frog, I will call thee — the time will come 
when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as he has 
hunted thee!" 

And she reminded him often, in later years, 
that the striped cat was his enemy, treacherous 
and determined. And each of his friends 
among the jungle people warned him in turn 
to remember the vow the tiger had vowed. 
But Mowgli would forget, because he was 
born a man-cub, and when he was reminded, 
he would say: " Shere Khan is all long tail 
and loud talk, like Moo, the Peacock." 

30 



The Tiger 31 

But in spite of forgettings, he learned his 
lessons. He went down into the valley, and 
brought the red flower (fire) to the Council 
Rock, and with it he made Shere Khan turn 
coward before all the jungle people. The tiger 
went away to let his singed coat grow out, 
and Mowgli went to the valley to live with 
men. Then with the two gray wolves' help he 
led the buffalo herd into the ravine, the cows 
and calves up one way, the bulls coming down 
the other. In this trap Shere Khan woke 
to meet death under the trampling hoofs of 
the stampeding cattle. And in the evening 
twilight Mowgli got the great gay skin off, 
and, with Akela and Gray Brother following, 
went back to the jungle; and under the light 
of the stars he spread the tiger skin on the 
Council Rock. 

It is a glorious story, and you will all read 
it again for yourselves, and keep right on, for 
the book is not one to lay down, until it is 
finished. 

Largest, most regal and most deadly of 
jungle people is the giant cat with black and 
yellow stripes. In the Hon house at the Zoo 
the Royal Bengal tigress, Eva, walks noise- 
lessly back and forth in her cage. The beauti- 
ful queen of the jungle is captive, but untamed. 



32 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

When she walks, when she sleeps, when she 
is fed, when she makes her careful toilette 
after a meal, she is a cat always, in every 
feature, and action. 

When one of the two big, playful Siberian 
tigers in the larger outdoor cage lies on the 
rocky ledge against the painted background 
of mountains we can get some idea of how 
these giant cats look among their native rocky 
dens. Once in a while one suddenly leaps 
down and swiftly rushes across the floor, as 
if to capture one of the admiring boys who 
stand outside the rail. The wire wall of the 
cage complains as the beast plunges against 
it, and the people draw away in a hurry. 
The tiger walks haughtily back, quite ignoring 
the small panic he has created. Is it his little 
joke? Or is it merely to exercise his muscles 
that he makes this demonstration? 

A ten-foot tiger's skin is about as fine a 
trophy as a hunter can bring home. Why did 
not Mr. Dugmore or Mr. Roosevelt bring 
back one from their African hunting trips? 
Not a few people ask them this question. It 
is disappointing to know that neither party 
got so much as a snapshot of a tiger, though 
lions were abundant. The answer is easy: 
There are no tigers in Africa. They belong 



The Tiger 33 

in India and neighbour countries. One must 
go into Asiatic jungles to find tigers at home. 
Few of us can get closer to a tiger at home 
than reading the stories that returning hun- 
ters tell. But menageries give opportunities 
of seeing caged animals, as fine as ever roamed 
the jungle. The trained, performing lions and 
tigers exhibited by Bostock and Hagenbeck and 
others, show how human patience and skill 
have made the most savage of beasts the meek 
servants of men; more often, of frail women. 
Never miss an opportunity to see them! 



AN EXCITING TIGER-HUNT 

AN ENGLISH hunter, visiting a friend in 
Amoy, China, was delighted to hear that 
up among the hills tigers were numerous. He 
was eager to try his luck at hunting "stripes." 
So several Chinese hunters were sent out to 
make observations, and they soon located a 
place where tiger signs were numerous. The 
hunters rode with their guide to the foot of 
a low range of hills, and climbed up the sides 
to a small Buddhist temple, where they slept 
that night. Early morning found them ready, 
for it is the tiger's habit to roam by night, and 
return with its prey to the lair before the sun 
is up. 

With field glasses the hunters scanned the 
rocky hill tops for moving forms. Directly 
one was sighted, and the keen-eyed Chinese 
scouts kept their eyes on the creature, to see 
what cave it went into. It was their pleasant 
duty next to explore the cavern and to find out 
if it had any other doorway. The Englishmen 
waited outside, and in a few minutes their 

34 



An Exciting Tiger -Hunt 35 

allies returned, saying that there was no back 
door, and that they had located the lair of a 
tigress with kittens. 

No more savage creature lives than a ti- 
gress defending her young. The plan was to 
go into the den after her, instead of meeting 
her in the open. I do not know whether the 
native method pleased the Englishmen. If 
it didn't, they concealed their qualms, and 
followed the yellow men, who were brave 
enough, and carried spears and lighted 
torches. The hunters flipped a coin to see who 
should shoot, and in they went, stooping to 
avoid overhanging rocks, and squeezing through 
narrow passages, where their rifles had to be 
poked in first, the men crawling after them. 
Ten minutes of this travel into the terrible 
darkness, with a man-eating tigress ahead! 
What a situation! Yet the hunters followed 
the plucky torch-bearers, and made sure that 
their guns were ready for instant use. 

At length they halted in an open space 
about ten feet across. The torch-bearers 
pointed forward, and there crouched the 
tigress, her cubs beside her. As the hunter 
leaned forward, the creature made her spring 
before he could pull the trigger. The rush 
of her coming put out the two flaming torches, 



36 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

but the second hunter fired just as the tigress 
bore down the man in front, on whom her 
attack was made. One awful moment fol- 
lowed. The man who had fired was on the 
ground, his feet pinned under the tiger's body. 
He heard the Chinamen fumbling to light 
the torches. It took a few seconds, which 
seemed to him like hours. The light showed 
the first hunter bleeding badly from the 
tiger's claws, stunned and terribly bruised by 
the force of the onset, which carried him 
over backward. The tiger was dead. What 
might have happened in that crowded little 
room, had the second hunter been as slow to 
fire as the first one? What if his aim had not 
been true? 
The answer is left to you. 



THE LEOPARD AT HOME 

IN THE Zoo, and by a more cramped cage 
in the travelling menagerie, we need no sign 
to tell us the name of the giant cat, the true 
panther, which is known the world over by 
its spots. They are black on a tawny ground 
colour, small and of solid colour on the head 
and legs; but on the back they are as big as 
the palm of a man's hand, and irregular in 
outline, the centre tawny. These patches 
are called "rosettes." Between them the paler 
colour forms a network of irregular mesh. 
" Black" leopards show more black than yel- 
low, and in all the colours gradually lighten 
from the dark band that lies along the spine 
to the pale underparts. Leopards all black 
show the spots in certain lights, like the pattern 
in watered silk. 

In a cage the leopard walks proudly and 
with noiseless step. But no chance is given 
in captivity for it to show its natural powers, 
its fleetness and grace when running, its cun- 
ning in stalking its prey, and in " melting into 

37 



38 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

the landscape' ' when it must avoid being 
seen. Its hunting time is the dead of night. 
At twilight and at dawn, when lions are abroad, 
the leopard is safe in its lair. Sometimes one 
creeps out and lies motionless in the sun on 
some rocky hill near the hidden den. The 
leopardess with her family of three or four 
kittens may even play in the sun, relying on 
the spotted, pebbly ground to conceal them 
all from view. If hunters are about, or any 
other human, the mother probably knows it, 
and the family sun bath is put off until the 
way is clear. From her animal neighbours, 
the leopard has little to fear. 

In the hills and on the grassy plains the 
shepherds live an anxious life, because of the 
leopards, which come long distances to steal 
sheep and goats out of their flocks. The 
lion roars a great deal; the leopard is a silent 
beast in comparison, uttering its hoarse, pierc- 
ing cry but seldom, and then repeating it in 
the same key, several times. Oftener, it utters 
low, complaining grunts. The scream expresses 
unusual excitement. 

Silent, flattened on a rock close to a water 
hole, the leopard waits for thirsty creatures 
that come down to drink. Sometimes two 
hunt together, and spring at the same instant 



The Leopard at Home 39 

upon the throat of the victim, if it is a large 
animal. They make no sound in this murder- 
ous assault, and the victim dies from the sever- 
ing of the jugular vein — a swift, merciful 
death. In the hill country of Africa, mon- 
keys, bushbuck and smaller animals are their 
usual prey. 

It is perfectly easy for a leopard to chase 
monkeys through the tree tops; climbing is 
one of its natural accomplishments. Oftener 
it slips upon them when they are asleep and 
there is no chance for escape. A lion loses 
its victim, if the creature can climb a tree. 
The leopard follows it. 

The largest African leopards are found in 
the north and east. They weigh less than a 
man, but measure six feet or more in length. 



THE LEOPARD'S AMERICAN COUSINS 
-THE JAGUAR AND OCELOT 

AMONG Mexican visitors to the woods of 
l\ Texas and Louisiana, the fierce jaguar is 
one of the least welcome, as it is also one of the 
least common. It is the New World's leopard, 
a splendid creature, often seven feet long, 
spotted and rosetted with black, on a rich, 
yellow ground, in a larger pattern than the 
leopards wear; each rosette has a black spot in the 
centre. The jaguar has a large head, and is 
a burly creature, but what it lacks in grace 
and agility it makes up for in strength. With 
one bite on the back of the neck " Senor Lopez" 
instantly killed a full-grown female the moment 
she entered the cage in the New York Zoo- 
logical Park. They had been neighbours for 
two days, and while separated only by their 
cage bars, no unfriendly feeling had been 
shown. But the male jaguar had no mind 
to share his cage with a stranger, and he 
expressed his determination in a tragically 
cruel manner. 

40 




Notice that the leopard (above) has no black dot in the middle of 
each rosette as the jaguar (" Senor Lopez") has on his coat 



The Jaguar and Ocelot 41 

The ocelot is a smaller black-and-tan spotted 
cat, which occasionally strays into Texas from 
the tropical forests of Central America. Its 
rosettes are run together in such a way as to 
form horizontal or diagonal bands of black 
and yellow. The legs are spotted, and the tail 
ringed with black. 

This animal is about half the size of a jaguar, 
and weighs much less. Its natural prey is small 
game and birds. It lies among tree branches, 
and pounces on its victim from these vantage 
points. 

In captivity ocelots seem comfortable and 
happy far north of their natural homes. They 
live outdoors all winter, and rear their young 
in the Zoo at the Bronx, New York City. 



THE HUNTING-LEOPARD 

FLEETEST of all cats is the cheetah, called 
the hunting-leopard. It is not a leopard, 
though it looks like one. The black markings of 
its tawny coat are solid, not resetted, and the 
paler throat and under parts are not spotted. 
The chief characteristic of the animal is the 
fact that its claws cannot be completely drawn 
back into a sheath; this takes it out of the cat 
family, proper. In appearance it is a tall, thin, 
slender leopard, with coarser hair than most, 
shaggy on the belly, and rising in a ridge like 
a short mane along the back, and forcing a 
ruff on the shoulders. 

Wherever the lion is found, the cheetah also 
lives, though they do not depend upon each 
other, in Africa or Asia. 

A hunter in the Transvaal describes the life 
these animals live among the foothills of the 
mountains. He often saw them out in day- 
time. They feast as soon as they kill. Two 
usually hunt together, stalking the unconscious 
prey, then dashing up, as it becomes alarmed 

42 



The Hunting-Leopard 43 

and starts off. The fleetest antelope has no 
chance. The cheetahs, without any special 
effort, gain upon the desperate victim, which 
seems to realize the hopelessness of flight. One 
leap and the throat is seized. The struggle is 
short. 

The farmer and native villagers suffer losses 
of sheep, calves and goats, by the cheetahs. One 
hunter, resting by his horse at midday, waked 
from a nap to find two hunting-leopards stalk- 
ing his horse. 

The young cheetahs caught by hunters are 
readily tamed, and trained to hunt like dogs. 
The younger the cubs are token the more docile 
they are. But a cheetah trained by its mother 
is always a more successful hunter than one 
trained by men. 



THE CARACAL 

A BEAUTIFUL African^elative of the lynx is 
the caracal, whose pointed ears, black out- 
side and lined with white, end in a long, erect, 
spreading pencil of hairs. The body is three 
feet long, slender and graceful, the legs long, 
and the tail reaches nearly to the ground. This 
cat's fur is brownish-red, paler beneath, close 
and fine. 

The creature is one of the swiftest cats, run- 
ning as fast as the hunting-leopard. It is able 
to capture almost any animal up to small deer. 
Taken young, it is trained to assist in hunting, 
which it seems to enjoy greatly. It is so quick 
that it can strike down pigeons feeding on the 
ground, a dozen at a time, before they can rise. 
And often it will kill at a blow a bird flying 
past, though it has to spring to a height of six 
or eight feet to reach it. 



THE MOUNTAIN LIOX 

HERE are some of its other names : cougar, 
puma, panther, " painter. " This great 
cat will be recognized by this description: body 
tall, flat-sided, about five feet long and tail three 
feet; fur close, thick, pale reddish or yellowish- 
brown, darker along the back and tail; under- 
pays ding} 7 white, face gray. 

In all the woodsmen's tales our grandfathers 
heard, if they were boys in the mountainous or 
forest regions of the Eastern states, the thrilling 
moment was likely to be the one in which the 
piercing scream of a " painter" fell upon the 
ears of the hunter. If the pioneer families 
were safe behind the barred doors of their log 
cabins, they were anxious for the safety of the 
calves and colts in the barnyards, to which the 
giant cat might get access by its cunning. 
A hungry panther, with young ones in some 
cave near by, under the roots of a tree, or in a 
washed-out hollow among the rocks, must keep 
on hunting until it can strike down and carry 
home an animal big enough for a square meal. 

45 



46 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Times have changed. The pioneer's rifle 
was always ready to defend his stock from 
marauding "varmints." The "painter" was 
one of the worst of these, hated especially be- 
cause it was silent in its approach, and almost 
uncanny in its ability to "fade away," once it 
was sighted by a man. Possibly panthers 
would once have attacked a man, but they 
learned, as the country became more thickly 
settled, that man was their arch-enemy. He 
shot the deer, which were the panthers' chief 
prey. The forests were destroyed by fires 
and by lumbermen, and gradually wild beasts 
disappeared. Farms and cities have taken the 
places of the woods where deer and panthers 
and bears and Indians once ranged and lived 
their lives, without a thought of the great 
changes that were coming. 

To find the cougar now, one must go West, 
where mountain wilds offer homes and good 
hunting to big beasts of prey. There will be 
room for them for years to come in the vast 
stretches of broken country that reach from 
Canada to Mexico. The only retreats left 
in the Eastern states are in the Adirondacks 
and in the wildest parts of Florida. In the Bad 
Lands of Wyoming and Montana the stock- 
raisers still suffer losses. A hungry cougar 



The Mountain Lion 47 

will sometimes attack a horse or a cow; full- 
grown moose and elk have fallen victims to 
the same intrepid hunter. Deer and mountain 
sheep are its preference. Doctor Hornaday 
says that it preys upon every living creature 
that can be killed and eaten, except man. The 
antelope, fleet beyond words, is too swift for it, 
I suppose, ' and has wonderful endurance in 
flight. All of the cats rely on the first dash 
to take their prey, and have no liking for a 
long chase. 

It is a queer fact that a mountain lion will 
run up a tree when chased by a dog, even 
though it is more than a match for its pursuer. 
This gives the hunter his chance for a shot, 
for which he would have waited a long time, 
had he tried cougar-hunting without the dog. 

Mr. Enos Mills, who knows the Colorado 
mountains as well as any man, and who hunts 
with a camera, instead of a gun, tells what 
occupied his thoughts during his solitary 
tramps over the snow-covered range in the 
dead of winter. 

"The tracks and records in the snow, which I 
read in passing, made something of a daily 
newspaper for me. They told me the news of 
the wilds. Sometimes I read of the games the 
snowshoe rabbits had played; of the starving 



48 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

time among the brave mountain sheep upon 
the heights; of the quiet content in the ptarmi- 
gan neighbourhood; of the dinner that the pines 
had given the grouse; of the amusements and 
exercises on the deer's stamping ground; of 
the cunning of the foxes; of the visits of magpies, 
the excursions of lynxes, and the red records 
of mountain lions. 

"The mountain lion is something of a game 
hog and an epicure. He prefers warm blood 
for every meal, and is very wasteful. I have 
much evidence against him. His worst one- 
day record that I have shows five tragedies. 
In this time he killed a mountain sheep, a fawn, 
a grouse, a rabbit, and a porcupine; and as if 
this were not enough, he was about to kill an- 
other sheep when a dark object on snowshoes 
shot down the slope near by, and disturbed him. 

" The instances where he has attacked human 
beings are rare, but he will watch and follow 
one for hours with the utmost caution and 
curiosity. One morning, after a night journey 
through the woods, I turned back and doubled 
my trail. After going a short distance, I came 
to the track of a lion alongside my own. I 
went back several miles and read the lion's 
movements. He had watched me closely. 
At every place where I rested he had crept 



The Mountain Lion 49 

up close, and at the place where I had sat down 
against a stump, he had crept up to the opposite 
side of the stump — and I fear while I dozed!' 7 

With all its strength and cunning, the 
cougar has earned the reputation of being a 
great coward. The Indian panther (w T hich 
is the black leopard) is no better fitted to 
succeed, yet it never hesitates to attack human 
beings. The difference is probably this: the 
timid, unarmed people that live in the out- 
skirts of the jungles regard the wild beasts 
with awe and superstition. The American 
Indians shot their enemies with arrows, and 
the white men that followed the Indians were 
bold and unforgiving hunters, armed with 
deadlier weapons than those of the Indians. 
Through generations, mountain lions have 
learned that striking a man brought surer, 
swifter vengeance than taking his fat pigs or 
calves. What we call cowardice, the cougar 
mother may teach her spotted cubs is 
plain common sense, the only rule of self- 
preservation in their world. 

I saw a big mountain lion give a strange 
exhibition of temper one day. She was in 
one of the side cages of the small mammal 
house at the New York Zoo. A stream of 
people went through on this winter day, and 



50 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

the big cat was quietly snoozing on a shelf 
near the top of her cage. She yawned and 
stretched like a house cat when she waked, 
and was washing her face and licking her paws 
very deliberately, when, of a sudden, her 
muscles stiffened, she crouched for a spring, 
whipped her tail from side to side, and flung 
herself at some person or thing in the open 
passageway. Of course she struck the cage 
bars and they threw her back. Whining, she 
crouched on the floor, and a fierce, hissing 
snarl expressed the anger that she felt. We 
all stopped to wonder at this outburst, and to 
learn its cause. Nobody could tell, until we 
saw that her glances were all directed to one 
lady. Every move she made stirred the 
wrath of the cougar. Around her neck she 
wore a raccoon collar, with the head and tail 
of the animal coming around to the front. It 
was those glassy eyes and pointed snout that 
took the cougar's eye. Everybody became 
interested at once, including the raccoon lady 
and her friends. A little shaking of the rac- 
coon tail or head caused the cougar to snarl 
and hiss, and make up the wickedest of faces 
at us. Finally the lady took a quick step 
forward, and this struck terror to the cougar's 
heart. Drawing backward so suddenly, the 



The Mountain Lion 51 

great cat lost her balance, and did a back 
somersault, quite without intending to. The 
laughter this provoked seemed to anger the 
creature still more. She snarled and hissed 
us all out of her sight, but we would not go 
fast enough. The lady with the 'coonskin 
collar moved away, but even at a distance, 
the beast kept her eye on the object of her 
wrath. Coming slowly back, the lady took 
a sudden step toward the cage again. This 
time the cougar uttered a piercing scream, 
dropped her tail, and slunk out of the back 
door and refused to enter the cage, as long as 
the lady stayed. 

Dr. C. Hart Merriam says: "The distance a 
panther can pass over in a single leap is almost 
incredible. On level ground, a single spring 
of twenty feet is by no means uncommon. 
On one occasion Mr. Sheppard measured a 
leap over snow of nearly forty feet. In this 
instance there were three preliminary springs, 
and the panther struck his deer on the fourth. 
The longest leap measured by Mr. Sheppard 
was one of sixty feet, but here the panther 
jumped from a ledge of rocks about twenty 
feet above the level upon which the deer was 
standing. He struck it with such force as 
to knock it nearly a rod farther off. 



52 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

"The deer cuts so deeply into heavy snow 
drifts that the poor animal can make but slow 
progress. At such times a panther, by spread- 
ing the toes of his great broad paws, simulates 
a man on snowshoes and sinks but a short 
distance in the snow. He thus gains a vital 
advantage over his prey, and will give chase 
to and capture one that he missed on his first 
spring. Under no other circumstances will 
a panther pursue a deer, for he is too well 
aware of the uselessness of an attempt to over- 
take so fleet an animal. 

"Immediately upon killing one, he drags it 
bodily into some dense thicket where he will 
not be likely to be observed. He has thus been 
known to drag a full-grown deer over a hun- 
dred feet before reaching a satisfactory covert. 

"Unlike the wolf, he makes the most of his 
prey, devouring it before killing another. 
One deer generally lasts a panther a week or 
ten days, and during that time he may usually 
be found within a mile of the carcass, hidden 
under some log or uprooted tree. When all 
but enough for one or two meals has been 
eaten, the panther, especially if a female with 
young, will often make another hunt, but, if 
unsuccessful, returns to the remains of the 
old carcass." 



The Mountain Lion 53 

The ordinary cry of a puma is a sort of mew, 
on a larger scale, and more prolonged than 
that of the domestic cat. The male growls 
when disturbed, and gives vent to unearthly 
cries, at times. It is false to say that human- 
like cries are uttered to lure hunters to de- 
struction. Multiply caterwauling by five to 
ten, and you have the vocalization of the 
mountain lion. 



THE CANADA LYNX 

LARGE, fierce cats, with long legs and short 
tails, are lynxes. Our two American species 
are easily distinguished. They have many 
traits in common — traits that belong to the 
family — stealth and cunning, ability to 
climb, persistence of grip once the savage 
claws are sunk into a victim at the end of a 
sudden, well-aimed spring. 

In the dark forests of the North, the shy, 
sullen-tempered Canada lynx lives his hard 
life, for life is always a fierce struggle in the 
cold regions of deep snows. This creature is 
about three feet in length, with a stub tail 
only a few inches long. The legs are heavy 
and long, and the feet unusually large and 
thickly haired all over. The fur is gray with 
just a hint of warm red in it. The pointed 
ears are ornamented with tufts of long, stiff, 
black hairs. The tip of the tail is black. 

On the ground this animal travels by long, 
awkward bounds. It prefers to lie, quite con- 
cealed from view, on the horizontal limb of 

54 



The Canada Lynx 55 

a tree, ready to spring upon any bird or beast 
that passes below. Rabbits are the staple 
prey. A good rabbit year always means 
plenty of lynxes, so the hunters say. Grouse 
are favourite birds. Any animal it can conquer 
is its victim. Deer and caribou, if taken at 
a disadvantage, may be bled to death be- 
fore they can escape the tenacious, cut-throat 
lynxes, that usually hunt in pairs when big 
game is involved. Foxes and lynxes are con- 
stantly in conflict, and the cats win the fight. 
Pigs and lambs are stolen from the farmyards 
of settlers, in the half-light at both ends of 
the day. 



THE WILDCAT, OR BAY LYNX 

THIS cat is as big as the Canada lynx, but 
not so heavy. Its feet are small, its body 
more lithe and graceful, its colour a warm 
reddish-brown, streaked and mottled in various 
patterns. No tufts adorn its ears. The tail 
is a bit longer, and banded; the face as handsome 
as ever a cat has. 

Wherever there is broken, mountainous 
country with open woods left in the United 
States, there still lives the wildcat, and the 
cottontail, on which it chiefly depends for its 
food. No wonder it can take life less seriously 
than its sombre cousin of the bleak North. 

In a rocky den the kittens are born — little, 
furry, blind things, like the babies of your 
house cat in looks and actions, as they grow 
up. And the savage mother is just as tender 
and devoted to her little ones as old Tabby. 
After a few weeks of nursing the kittens, 
she brings in mice and small birds, and not 
long after they acquire the taste for blood, 
they learn how to catch such animals, and 

56 



The Wildcat, or Bay Lynx 57 

are out hunting for themselves. Wildcats do 
not imitate human beings in their night call- 
ing, as some superstitious people say they do. 
Neither are they in league with the Evil One. 
They are wild creatures engaged in a struggle 
to live. 

When trailed by dogs a wildcat goes up 
the nearest tree, giving the hunter his chance 
for a shot. But sometimes the cat descends 
suddenly and despatches the dog whose inces- 
sant barking exasperates her. 

When a wildcat is met suddenly, she is 
quite as startled as the man in front of her. 
Self-defense is the first impulse of each. The 
cat humps her back, bristles her long fur 
until she swells to twice her natural size. Her 
eyes blaze, she growls and spits, the picture 
of fury. Quick as a flash she will fly at the 
man, and sink her claws into his face and neck, 
unless he meets her attack with a blow of a 
heavy stick. A good dog is the best friend an 
unarmed man can have at such a time. Doubly 
ferocious when wounded, a wildcat will carry 
a steel trap with her in springing upon a person 
who ventures to approach her. 

Wildcats are the only savage beasts left in 
Great Britain. They are still able to hold 
their own in the wildest mountainous parts. 



THE HYENAS* 

THE meanest members of the cat family are 
the striped and spotted hyenas, whose 
characters are well known the world over. Like 
a leopard in strength, but a sneaking coward, 
a hyena is dreaded as well as despised. 
The strength of its jaws is past belief; once it 
sinks its great teeth into flesh it eats bones 
and all, crunching and swallowing the hardest 
parts, even of the big joints. 

A hyena does not match his powers with 
beasts of his own size, but is alert to find injured 
or sick ones. Then he is brave as a lion — 
unless approached by a beast that is sound. 

The victims of the sleeping sickness live 
for months, able to go about, but enfeebled, 
and waiting for death. Hyenas recognize 
the weakness of these men, and attack them 
with the utmost ferocity. Children are 
snatched from the native tents, and sleeping 
men have been maimed or killed. 



•The hyenas are intermediate between the dogs and cats, having characters 
of each family. Their nearest relatives are the civet cats. Their claws are 
not retractile. 

S8 



The Hyenas 59 

But ordinarily the hyenas skulk about, 
lying in the reedy hollows by day, following 
the hunting lions and leopards by night, to 
pick up what is left of their feasts, or the re- 
mains of carcasses not so recently killed. 

Let a hunter approach, and the hyena 
becomes a skulking coward again. A little 
dog will scare off a hyena three times its size. 
But an aged Hon, after treating them with 
contempt all his life, usually falls a victim to 
hyenas at the end. 

The "laugh" of the hyena is a cackling series 
of shrieks, howls and chuckles. When hyenas 
assemble in numbers, waiting for a lion to 
finish his feast, they make night hideous with 
their chorus. 

Like the disgusting wolverine in Canada, 
the hyena has an enormous stomach, and is 
a glutton. Mr. Roosevelt found one howling 
in a trap of his own making. The carcass 
of an elephant lay on its side. The hyena 
had crawled inside, and gorged himself until^ 
he could not climb out. Gnawing an opening 
in the abdomen wall, he forced his head through 
but the elastic muscles drew tightly around 
his neck, and he was caught. 



WILD COUSINS OF THE DOG 
THE GRAY, OR TIMBER WOLF 

HE IS a great gray dog with dog-like actions 
as well as looks, that we see walking about 
his enclosure on a rocky hill side at the Zoo. 
Occasionally a difference of opinion between him 
and his cage mate will make the bristles on 
the neck rise in anger, but none of the fierce- 
ness of the frontier wolf is seen among these 
comfortable captives, nor any of the shyness 
that belongs to the native of the far off northern 
forests, or the Bad Lands of Dakota. In the back 
of the yard are the dens where they sleep, and 
every day at a certain hour a man comes to 
feed them. Have they forgotten all they ever 
knew of the wild life led by their kind? 

On the steppes of Russia, and even in wilder 
portions of Germany and France, fierce wolves 
of the same species as ours still terrorize travel- 
lers. Sledges on long drives across the snow 
fields are followed and attacked by wolves 
that travel in packs and act together, to save 

60 



The Gray, or Timber Wolf 61 

their strength and accomplish the capture, 
then share the prize. 

Such experiences with famished wolves came 
to the early settlers in the woods of Canada 
and many of the states. These wolves lived 
also on the plains where the buffalo roamed. 
And in and out among the grazing or resting 
animals, the wolves slipped like gray shadows 
at twilight or by night, managing to get 
young calves separated from the others, and 
to drag them away without risking too much. 
The horns of an enraged buffalo that pinned a 
wolf to the ground were deadly weapons. 

Hunting the buffalo bulls was wolves' sport, 
it is true, but it was the pack against the 
solitary buffalo, at a safe distance from the 
herd; or the cow, alone with her young calf, 
whose hiding place she circled and defended 
till the persistent dogs wore out her strength, 
and their patience had its final reward. 

The deer were the natural prey of the timber 
wolves before men came. These fleet animals 
they hunted by a series of relays, so that co- 
operation made up for the comparative slowness 
of the pursuers. When settlers came they, too, 
preyed upon the deer, and frightened them 
away. It is a kind of necessary revenge that 
the wolves turned upon the flocks of the sheep- 



62 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

men, and the calves and colts of the ranchmen 
and cattlemen, considering them their rightful 
prey, and quite as good as the deer. All 
the vengeance of these injured pioneers ex- 
pressed itself in shooting, trapping and poison- 
ing their enemy. Dogs were maimed and 
killed by their wild cousins with the terrible 
teeth and iron jaws. The fur market paid 
good prices for the skins in winter, and a 
bounty on wolf scalps made it profitable to 
bring them in at any season. 

Gradually the hunted wolves learned that 
men with guns are enemies they cannot defeat 
in open fight. They know that distance must 
be kept between them. So the skulking habit 
has developed. Few people to-day can catch 
a glimpse of a wolf, even in regions where they 
howl at night, as if the woods were full of them 
and their tracks in the snow give reasonable- 
ness to the belief. They have learned to keep 
out of traps, no matter how cleverly they are 
laid, and to sniff poison, however it is dis- 
guised. With his wits about him, the wolf is 
more than a match for his human neighbours 
in many sparsely settled regions of the country, 
and the tribe is multiplying and thriving. 

Five to thirteen cubs, usually half a dozen, 
are born in a bare, unlined den, in early spring. 



The Gray, or Timber Wolf 63 

They are suckled by the mother, and she is 
dependent upon the father, who hunts for the 
whole family. By all that I can learn, there 
is a good picture of the home life of these 
animals in "The Jungle Book." It makes 
our hearts warm toward them. But the wolf- 
ish nature of wolves shows when old Akela 
misses killing his buffalo, and the young ones 
turn traitors and forget all his years of devo- 
tion to the pack. So the hunter in our own 
country knows that when one of the pack is 
old, or by accident disabled, his own brothers 
will fall upon and devour him. Captive 
wolves have been known to devour their mates, 
and even their cubs. The cannibal wolf we 
despise, but we have a deeper feeling of this 
sort for the cowardly creature which will 
desert her own cubs in the face of danger. 
This is the meanest cowardice of all. 

Yet individuals differ. We would not like 
the race of men to be judged by the deeds 
of the meanest and weakest among us. The 
mother love is the strongest and best thing in 
wolves. The mother devotes her strength to 
the nourishing of her numerous cubs, and when 
they are able to go out with her, she shows 
them how to make their own way safely in 
their world. This means getting experience 



64 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

of all the dangers that beset the way, with 
Man as a neighbour, and all the difficulties 
of scarce, and always fearful, beasts upon which 
they depend. But though life is so serious, 
there is time to play, as a dog does with her 
puppies. And there is neighbourliness with 
other wolves, and sometimes even helpfulness 
to the unfortunate. Mr. Seton tells of a 
hunter who shot a wolf, but couldn't find her 
den. Next week he tracked another she-wolf 
to her den in a hollow log, and shot her at the 
door. Crawling in, he found six very small 
cubs and seven much larger. He believes 
that this kind neighbour adopted the orphans 
of the wolf first shot, and was nursing the 
thirteen — a big, but noble, undertaking. 

When the cubs first come out to play in 
front of the door of their den they are likely 
to be snatched by watching eagles. As they 
grow up they are liable to diseases, the worst 
of which is hydrophobia. A mad wolf runs 
through the pack, snapping at all that it can 
reach, just as a mad dog does in the street. 

Up North, the sledge dogs are half wild; 
sometimes timber wolves are taken when very 
young and trained; sometimes one parent is 
a wolf. The best dogs of the team are these 
half-breeds, some drivers think. 



TWO TRUE WOLF STORIES 

I HAVE heard at first hand many stories of 
fierce timber wolves. The pioneers were 
brave who faced these dangers when they settled 
the new states of the West. A farmer in Min- 
nesota spent one winter day cutting wood in 
his timber tract two miles from home. As he 
came out into the road with his axe, ready to 
go home, he heard an ominous yelping, and 
by the time he reached a suitable tree and 
climbed up into it, a pack of half a dozen ugly 
wolves had come bounding down his track, 
and were jumping and snapping angrily at his 
heels, and their cries were making the silent 
woods ring. As darkness came down, the 
eyes of the disappointed but persistent brutes 
glowed like live coals, and they took revenge 
upon the man they could not reach by chew- 
ing the hickory handle of his axe until it was 
so shredded and split as to be useless. Two 
hours this siege lasted. Then the wolves 
began quarrelling among themselves. I have 
heard woodsmen say that when wolves 

65 



66 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

are foiled in their purpose they turn upon 
their leader. Perhaps the pack were tak- 
ing revenge upon the one who led them 
into this long and apparently useless hunt. 
At any rate, they moved off, snarling and 
fighting, and finally the man in the tree dared 
to slip to the ground, and run for his life. He 
reached home safely, the wolves having appar- 
ently forgotten him in their own quarrel. 

Another story of a thrilling escape from 
wolves comes as a personal experience from a 
man who forty years ago was a young surveyor 
in the wilds of Minnesota. Coming through 
the woods one morning he heard the cry of a 
wolf behind him, and looking back among 
the trees he saw the gaunt creature not twenty 
rods away. No doubt it was surprised when 
he shouted at it for it turned back and was 
silent a little while, and the frightened youth 
made the best speed possible in the supposed 
direction of the camp. But the howling, 
answered by other wolves, came nearer, and 
before long the man looked back over the little 
swamp and saw three wolves coming along 
on his trail, sniffing the ground at intervals 
and uttering short yelps of satisfaction. 
Knowing that he might starve to death or 
freeze if treed by the wolves, he decided not 



Two True Wolf Stories 67 

to climb a tree, there in the deep woods, 
where no one could hear him call. 

As he ran on, he passed a clump of birch 
trees and, stopping, tore off an armful of the 
curling bark. Piling more on this first bundle, 
he touched a match to it. In a moment he 
had left behind him a big bonfire flaming up, 
right on his trail. When the wolves came 
up to it they lost their tempers completely. 
The fleeing man heard their cries of rage 
and disappointment. Evidently the fire barred 
the wolves from following any farther. The 
trick that saved him was suggested by seeing 
the birch bark. The man had never heard 
of bonfires as a defence against wolves. It 
was an inspiration. Probably no other plan 
that he could have resorted to would have 
saved him. 



THE COYOTE OR PRAIRIE WOLF 

SLENDERER in build and smaller, with fox- 
like ears and muzzle, the coyote is the " little 
brother" of the gray wolf, and has many of 
his traits, as well as some that are strictly his 
own. Being a tawny gray with brown trim- 
mings and pale linings, so to speak, the body 
of this desert dweller makes very little display 
against the ashy-brown earth, with its neutral- 
coloured, scant vegetation, and scattered rocks. 
Twilight brings out the pack, yelping, whining, 
howling, as if life were a hopeless business, 
and the coyotes had no expectation of capturing 
anything. Fortunately for them, the earth 
is honeycombed with the winding burrows of 
mice, ground squirrels and other small rodents. 
Rabbits hide in the brush, but they are numer- 
ous enough to furnish a large proportion of the 
fare of the pack. Frogs, snakes, birds and their 
eggs, any animal living or dead, is meat for 
these fellows. And they go home at daybreak 
well fed. 

Home may be a badger's slanting burrow, 

68 



The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf 69 

made wider and deeper for the accommodation 
of the new tenant. Usually it is dug by the 
pair, the doorway being sheltered by bushes. 
The nest is an enlarged chamber, with an air- 
shaft which communicates with the surface 
of the ground, three feet or more above. It 
is likely to be an old gopher hole. 

In the nest, five to eight young ones are born 
in April, and as they grow up both parents 
are busy gathering enough to feed the family. 
The cubs soon form the habit of watching on 
high points near the den for the return of the 
old ones, welcoming them with squeals of 
delight if they bring in a good supply. If 
alarmed while they watch, the cubs slide into 
the den, and each may hide in a side pocket 
he has dug in the wall of the main passage. 

The happiest times in a little coyote's life 
is when the time comes to go hunting with 
the old ones. By October the family disbands, 
and the youngsters must rely on their skill 
at hunting as winter comes on. 

All through this trying season, when snow 
covers up the little rodents that sleep under- 
ground, traps and poisoned baits are set for 
wolves, and guns are loaded to protect the 
stock on which the coyotes prey from ne- 
cessity. Dogs are not dangerous enemies of 



7<d Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

coyotes. They are not quite a match even 
for the lightweight wolf. But all his skill 
the coyote needs to elude Man, his arch-enemy. 
The fact that his tribe increases is proof that 
he is as clever as men are. 

The settler in the dry prairies of the West 
may not suspect that the wise little coyote 
does him more good than harm. But if he is 
fair-minded and observant, he will find that 
this is true. Meadow mice, pocket gophers, 
and prairie dogs are his prey. Squirrels and 
rabbits are relentlessly pursued. If such sup- 
plies are scarce, the cheerful little prairie wolf 
fills himself with crickets and grasshoppers, 
which he may supplement with a dessert of 
wild plums. 

The deep, long howl of a timber wolf is very 
different from the short, sharp, high-pitched 
bark of the coyote. This animal barks for 
pure pleasure, and it is the only animal that 
habitually barks. The other members of the 
dog family bark under certain circumstances, 
but this fellow shows no such reserve. "The 
dawn song is a long, smooth, musical note," 
says Seton, and I quote him further. 

"Two or three coyotes will meet each night 
on a certain elevated place to sing. They have 
several of these recognized choir lofts, but 



The Coyote, or Prairie Wolf 71 

they never use the same one on two nights in 
succession. Sometimes on dead-calm moonlit 
nights, each coyote gets up on his singing perch 
and pours out his loudest and finest notes. 
This is passed on from one point to another, 
till the whole mountain seems ringing with the 
weird music, and from its very wildness, and 
the vast stretch of the country that is concerned, 
the effect is truly impressive." 

Enos Mills tells of an evening he spent alone 
by his campfire on the Colorado mountains. 
"All that evening I believed in fairies, and by 
watching the changing firelight kept my fancies 
frolicking in realms of mystery where all the 
world was young. I lay down without a gun, 
and as the fire faded to black and gray, the coy- 
otes began to howl. But their voices did not 
seem as lonely or menacing as when I had had 
a rifle by my side. As I lay listening to them, 
I thought I detected merriment in their tones, 
and in a little while their shouts rang as merrily 
as if they had been boys at play. Never be- 
fore had I realized that coyotes, too, had en- 
joyments; and I listened to their shouts with 
genuine pleasure. " 



FOXES OF MANY COLOURS 

REYNARD is a friend we all met in story 
books long ago. He is a selfish little cousin 
of the dog, quick to learn and to profit by his 
lessons. The things that prove to be mistakes he 
does not repeat. He studies to outdo his enemies 
by using the wits he has. His reputation for 
slyness does him credit, though it vexes the 
persons or the beasts with whom he plays the 
game. But as it is the game of life or death 
to him in most cases, who blames him? Try 
to get the fox's point of view. As civilization 
advances, and the wilderness is encroached 
upon from every side, only the sly foxes sur- 
vive in the great struggle for a living, and a 
place to live. 

How shall we recognize the foxes? They are 
smaller than the wolves, with bushy tails more 
than half the length of the body, sharp muzzles, 
long, pointed ears held erect, cat-like slits as 
pupils of the eyes, and the teeth of a dog. The 
long, thin legs end in slender, sharp claws, that 
have some retractile action. Four toes behind 

72 



Foxes of Many Colours 73 

and five in front, all dogs have. The fur of 
foxes is soft and long. 

In America two tribes are found: the Red 
Fox Group and the Gray Fox Group. The 
Southern states are the home of the gray 
foxes. They differ in California from those in 
Texas and Florida, as members of one species 
will in widely separated parts of a big country. 
But all are gray above, rusty brown beneath, 
smaller than their near relatives of the Northern 
group, and very spry on their feet. It is said 
that a fox "down South" will climb a tree as 
readily as a 'coon, when the dogs get close on 
its trail. 

The red fox is the type, or pattern, that gives 
its name to a large group of species, and to 
several forms of its own, ranked as sub-species 
of the red fox, found from Virginia to Alaska. 
It is reddish-gold in colour, paler in treeless 
regions, brightest red where it lives in dense 
forests. White on the inner sides of the legs, 
tail-tip, and throat, and black on the feet, legs 
and ear-tips, give contrast to the prevailing 
rust-red hue. The longest, thickest hair is 
on the Alaskan skins, the furriers tell you, 
and you understand why that is true. 

Often a mother fox has among her kitten-like 
babies one which does not look like the others 



74 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

when they exchange their leaden colour for 
the characteristic red coat they will wear when 
grown up. This odd one may be black. Or 
it may have a cross of dark colour on the 
shoulders, and a black tail, while the main 
colour is gray. The " black f ox " and the " cross 
fox" are colour variations to which the red 
fox is subject. 

The sly neighbour that looks down at the ducks 
and geese in the pond with such interest from 
the top of a little hill, at a safe distance from 
the house and barn, is the same fox, several 
generations removed, which stole the Christmas 
goose on which our Puritan forefathers intended 
to celebrate their midwinter holiday. In a 
few days your own choice of the flock may be 
taken by strategy more subtle than that the 
colonists marvelled at. Times have changed. 
You cannot set a trap that your neighbour 
will put his foot into. His sense of smell is so 
keen that he knows a poisoned bait; any taint 
of human touch means danger. 

A fox does not seem to be afraid of people; 
it recognizes that trickery will win where an 
open encounter would mean sure death, and a 
cowardly surrender of territory would not mend 
matters for himself. A hunter is often fol- 
lowed by the very fox he is after. The sly 



Foxes of Many Colours 75 

fellow never risks discovery, but always cal- 
culates how he can slip behind some stump or 
stone, or settle into a background of brown 
leaves so like his coat in colour that he will 
never be seen. 

It is foolish to watch the roost that lost a 
fat hen last night. True, the fox will be ready 
for another chicken dinner to-night, and again 
to-morrow. But it is neighbour Jones, a mile 
or more down the road, and then the Smiths, 
farther away, that are visited, not you. 

Sometimes a fox meets an unexpected 
reverse of fortune. A flock of geese came 
squawking home from an excursion into the 
fields, the gander behind the rest, his attention 
on a fox which hadn't quite bravery enough 
to attack, as the head of the flock was an un- 
usually fine bird, and plucky beyond the or- 
dinary. The fox was patiently biding his time 
in spite of the powerful wings, lifted threaten- 
ingly in his direction whenever he drew nearer. 

Round and round the fox circled, and nearer 
and nearer the contending forces came to the 
farmyard. The farmer heard the noise, saw 
what was the matter, and ran into the house 
for his gun. When the fox got out of line with 
a goose, the farmei* brought him down. Though 
only wounded, the fox was at once attacked 



76 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

by the gander, which leaped upon its enemy, 
beat it violently with both wings, tweaked its 
throat with an angry beak, and in other ways 
expressed its vindictive feeling toward the 
hereditary foe of young geese. 

Mr. Seton quotes an interesting fox story 
sent him from Auburn, N. Y. When her 
nest in a hollow under a tree was discovered 
and the cubs handled by a man, the mother 
fox took them, one by one, before another day 
passed, to a new home. The man returned, 
but found the hole empty. The light snow re- 
corded a most interesting story. After de- 
ciding upon the new place, the mother came 
and took one cub, by a roundabout way, to 
the spot. Returning for each one of the re- 
maining eight, she avoided the path she made 
before, but always went in a long, curving 
course that started in exactly the opposite 
direction from the goal she sought. The time 
consumed by this method might have been 
very precious, and the method costly, if the 
man had come sooner. But she succeeded, 
and was allowed to bring up the youngsters 
she worked so hard to save. 

Claws and teeth are not foxes' only weapons 
when they meet in a fight. The tail arches 
forward, and becomes a fender-off of the onsets 



Foxes of Many Colours 77 

of the adversary, and its hairy tip confuses 
him by brushing his eyes. 

In the Far North the tails of foxes are Oxten 
almost as big in diameter as their bodies. Fine 
and thick, the long fur is a muffler that keeps the 
sensitive nose and pads of the feet warm. The 
tail comes around close to the body, and the 
nose is buried in it before the animal goes to 
sleep. A frost-bitten nose would be a very 
great disadvantage to a hunter which depends 
as much as the fox does on this organ. And a 
tailless fox would hardly survive a cold winter. 

The most valuable fur animal is the black 
fox. A perfect skin, of good size, and of uni- 
form, glossy black, each hair tipped with white, 
may bring four to six hundred dollars. Two 
or more perfectly matched skins increase the 
price of each, for they supply enough fur for 
a set that sells for many times the price of the 
skins. The name "silver gray" is applied 
to this fox by the trapper and dealer, though 
the colour is not gray at all. The frosty light 
made by the white tips on the lustrous black 
pelt is beautiful beyond words. The black 
furs into which white hairs are artificially 
fastened are a poor imitation of the inimitable 
"silver fox," the only properly descriptive 
name. 



78 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Growing foxes for their fur is a new and 
interesting experiment. After telling just how 
the pens and yards are built by those who have 
gone into the business, Mr. Seton concludes 
that anybody who can succeed with hens can 
do so with foxes. And he ought to make 
twenty times as much money, because a fox 
is worth twenty hens, in the market. No 
doubt as the prices of furs mount upward, 
the enterprise of fox-raising will pass the ex- 
perimental stage, and become a more common 
industry. 

The Swift, or Kit fox is no larger than a 
common cat, and its name refers to its flee t- 
ness. Its silvery gray colour, with a tinge of 
yellow, makes it very inconspicuous on the 
Great Plains, but it is so simple-minded that 
it eats poisoned bait and so it has little chance 
to hold its own in the neighbourhood of 
settlements, as its wily cousin, the red fox, does. 

The Artie fox is white in the cold sub-polar 
regions the year around. In a belt of warmer 
latitude it changes its white coat for one 
of brownish-blue in summer. Farther south 
it is blue all the year. Its blue-brown coat 
brings the highest price. The breeding of 
blue foxes is started in the Aleutian Islands, 
which lie in the southernmost latitude these 




The gray wolf is the ugly, iron-jawed wild cousin of the dog 




No mother is more devoted to her growing family than the 
cunning red fox 




The mink is equally at home in the water or on land. He is out by 
day or night, and is a famous and successful hunter 




Shrewdness and a thirst for blood is written on the weasel's cruel face 



Foxes of Many Colours 79 

foxes inhabit. They are much more easily 
managed than silver foxes. 

The fox family depends on mice for the main- 
stay of its diet. Up north the lemmings are 
caught and their frozen bodies stored by the 
foxes against the day when snow is too deep 
for hunting their sleeping prey. Any fox will 
hide food it does not need, to dig it up again 
when the day's hunting is insufficient to satisfy 
the appetite. 

When mother foxes play with their babies, 
they are training them to hunt and to avoid 
the many pitfalls and temptations that beset 
a young fox. Next, they must test the theories 
of life their teacher has set forth. Many do not 
learn the lessons, and these are the ones that 
fall. The shrewdest survive, and always the 
shrewdest of their cubs are the ones which 
perpetuate the race. 



THE SKULKING JACKAL 

COMPANION of the hyena at its dis- 
gusting feasts is the jackal, the coward 
and scavenger among dogs, as the hyena is 
among cats. Each feeds upon the leavings of 
other beasts, and is not particular, eating 
carrion, and skulking off, if other animals come 
near. 

Mr. Dugmore's jackal looks very much like a 
fox in the photograph. His spotted hyena is 
larger than a good-sized dog, and has very long 
front legs that give the line of the back a decided 
downward slant. 

The jackals were probably the wild parents of 
the domestic dog of Egypt. European breeds 
no doubt sprang from various wild dogs, which 
men (scarcely less wild than they) tamed and 
taught to serve them in the hunting of their 
prey. 



80 



THE MARTEN FAMILY 
THE MARTEN 

THE marten looks like a big mink with a 
long bushy tail, a blotch of yellow on the 
breast, and white linings in the long, erect ears. 
The feet have five toes, the middle one the 
longest; the claws are sharp, and the soles broad, 
well-padded and thickly furred. The fur is fine 
and close, chocolate brown, and very handsome. 
The valuable " Russian sable" is the fur of 
the marten of Siberia. " American sable" 
is the furrier's name for the fur of our species. 
The marten is a creature of the North. It 
lives a hermit life in the sombre forests of firs 
and spruces. Hunters and trappers say they 
never see two full-grown martens together, 
except as they meet in a deadly fight. The 
first sign of the coming of settlers or lumber- 
men into their neighbourhood causes the mar- 
tens to go away. They are utterly unsoci- 
able among themselves, and they wish no 
human neighbours. 

81 



82 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Up in the hollow of a dead tree the aban- 
doned nest of the big woodpecker, lined with 
grass, leaves, and moss, is the chosen home of 
the marten. In rocky regions it may be a 
burrow leading into a shaly bank or a crevice 
in a cliff. But the marten is as much at home 
in the trees as the squirrels are. In the nest 
a half-dozen little ones are born in the spring. 
For them the mother hunts by day and some- 
times by night. The red squirrel is swift and 
nimble, but the marten follows, and gets him 
in the end. On the ground the hares are 
pursued with the same certain result. The 
marten may take time to rest, but it resumes 
the chase later by picking up the scent. It is 
probable that botji squirrels and hares (rabbits, 
we call them) are so paralyzed by fear that they 
yield more easily than they need to. When 
they see a marten following they know their 
time has come. Gray and fox squirrels are 
not found in woods where martens live. When 
rabbits are scarce there are few martens. A 
strange scarcity of both occurs about every 
tenth year. 

Partridges, and all other birds in fact, are 
the natural prey of martens, which take them 
when asleep and rifle their nests. Mice are 
always acceptable. For a change, the ber- 



The Marten 83 

ries of the mountain ash, and beech nuts, are 
eaten. 

Though the scent glands in the marten are 
very small, few animals will eat its flesh. 
Its enemies are the fisher, the lynx, the foxes, 
and probably the larger hawks and owls. 

Trappers rarely see the marten except after 
he is caught. Occasionally a hunter, passing 
through the pine woods, sees a broad, brown 
face with pointed muzzle and white ears at 
the doorway of a woodpecker's nest. If he 
shoots, it disappears. If he passes on, the 
marten will crawl out and circle the trunk to 
keep the man in view. The hunter counts on 
this exhibition of curiosity which enables him 
to drop the creature to the ground with a shot. 



THE MINK 

OCCASIONALLY you may meet on a path 
in the woods a slim-bodied, short-legged, 
rat-headed animal less than two feet long, with a 
coat of glossy brown fur that shades from white 
on the chin to black on the tail. "Sh!" says 
your companion, who knows the little fur- 
bearers of the neighbourhood. "It's a mink. 
Let's watch him." 

If the little creature has seen you, it is very 
likely to disappear most mysteriously, as if it 
faded into the brown of the dead leaf carpet 
of the woods. Or it may take a noiseless 
plunge into the brook, or enter a burrow that 
some accommodating little rodent has dug big 
enough for his narrow shoulders. 

Better luck it is for you to melt into the 
landscape yourself, by crouching, silent and 
motionless, against a tree or bank, while the 
unsuspecting mink comes on, attending to its 
own business, and paying no attention to you. 
It lopes along, gracefully arching its back with 
every bound, and pauses at the edge of the 

8 4 



The Mink 85 

stream. Now you may see a new mode of 
fishing. Here is a mother mink, getting dinner 
for her numerous family. Back in a warm 
nest at the end of a long, twisting tunnel 
the babies are waiting, and there may be as 
many as ten, though usually not more than 
six. The father has gone off on his travels, 
and the mother faces grave responsibilities. 
Just now it is a fish dinner she has promised, 
and she sniffs the air and scans the ripples 
for the gleam of a bright fin. 

A dash, and she is chasing a trout under 
water. In a moment she reappears with the 
fish in her mouth, and as she lays it down 
makes sure of her prize by biting it through 
the neck. You may expect to see the same 
thing repeated until she has quite a number 
of fish. Then, one by one, they will be carried 
to the nursery, and each youngster gets his 
share. 

This must be along in midsummer, for the 
baby minks are born in April or May and it is 
a month before they open their eyes and begin 
to eat solid food. Before this they are help- 
less; the mother nurses them, and all her hunt- 
ing is for her own food. Now they are active 
and ravenously hungry, and soon they are 
allowed to go out and learn to fish and hunt 



86 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

for themselves. Long before winter they leave 
their mother's nest, able to shift for them- 
selves, although they are not full grown till a 
year later. 

If you make a good imitation of the squeak 
of a mouse, a mink that is busy fishing may 
pause long enough to cock her ears and sniff, 
for minks consider mice very good eating. I 
fancy that young minks find their greatest 
pleasure in following the trails of meadow mice, 
under the matted, dead grass, in late summer, 
and despoiling the nests of wood mice in rot- 
ting logs and among tree roots. 

Farmers let their boys trap minks, because 
the fur brings in pocket money, and because 
minks will sometimes visit a chicken house. If 
an old mink gets the notion, he may drag a 
hen off the roost every night for a week. The 
bite on the neck enables him to suck the blood, 
and he is likely to eat the brains, too. If he 
is hungry he makes a meal on the flesh. Some- 
times he kills several chickens on one visit, 
and takes only the blood and brains. A mink 
weighs only about two pounds, and he cannot 
drag a heavy hen very far away. So he makes 
his meal and leaves the carcass, and the farmer 
knows who the villain is. 

Minks are found from Labrador to Florida 



The Mink 87 

and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, except for 
the desert regions of the Southwest. In spite 
of trappers, who market the skins by the thou- 
sands each year, and the steady decrease of 
many wild animals due to the settling and 
cultivation of wild land, minks are increasing 
in numbers. How can we account for it? 

They are wonderfully resourceful. A mink 
is as much at home in water as on the land. 
He can eat almost anything, and live almost 
anywhere. He runs swiftly, dodges like light- 
ning, if an enemy outruns him ejects a musk 
as pungent and disagreeable as that of a skunk, 
when trapped or cornered; and fights so fiercely 
that no animal of his own size is a match for 
him, and many larger ones hesitate, with good 
reason, to attack him. He likes swampy land, 
ponds, and streams, for here he can follow 
the muskrats, kill and eat them, and take pos- 
session of their elaborately built homes. Fish 
is his favourite food, but if fish are too scarce 
or too wary, he turns to frogs, tadpoles, cray- 
fish, and even snakes, clams, and insects. 

On high ground he is quite as happy as on 
low, provided there is fishing within a reason- 
able distance. Grouse and quail are at his 
mercy. He can climb a rough-barked tree 
if there are eggs or young birds up there; 



88 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

squirrels and rabbits and the tribe of mice 
are always at hand. 

If a house or a town is built close by, the 
minks need not move. Table scraps are very 
good food. Rats are better, and chickens 
best. If we could only realize it, minks are 
better ratters than cats or terriers. They 
fearlessly open war, and the rats which sur- 
vive the onset escape in a panic. If they had 
had minks in Hamelin-town the pied piper 
would have had no work to do. 

Daytime or night is all the same to the mink. 
He sleeps in short naps, wherever he happens 
to be, in the course of long journeys of ex- 
ploration about the country. The trail back 
home is known to him by his keen scent. If 
he loses it, or scents an enemy, he sniffs loudly, 
and stands bolt upright to look about in all 
directions. If a fox runs him down, or a hawk 
or owl swoops on him from overhead, he gener- 
ally escapes by an unexpected side jump, 
and a quick dodging into the first cover that 
offers. The fox is too large to follow, and it is 
useless to wait. The birds of prey haven't 
even the fox's chance to catch a mink. 

When they are about old enough to open 
their eyes, minks are just right to be taken and 
trained. They make attractive pets, playful 



The Mink 89 

as kittens, and accomplished rat-hunters. 
Some are ugly in disposition, and will bite. So 
they are too treacherous to trust to the care 
of children. Another fault, named by an 
experienced man, is this: "They may prove 
very mischievous, their scent leading them to 
food not intended for them. Their fondness 
for bathing will prompt them to enter a tea- 
kettle or any open vessel, and when wetted 
they will roll and dry themselves in a basket 
of clothes fresh from the laundry, or even upon 
a lady's dress!" 

A fisherman, sitting in silence on the bank 
of a stream remote from towns and seldom 
visited, often sees minks at play, barking 
softly, gliding along the back, diving, plunk! 
into the water, chasing each other in and out 
of the brook, the old and young ones of a family 
equally happy, and not at all disturbed by the 
presence of a man, as long as he makes few 
motions and doesn't speak. 



THE WEASEL 

SOMETIMES we hear the name of this ani- 
mal applied to a person who has been cruel, 
unprincipled or narrow-minded in business deal- 
ings. As well call a man a cut-throat or a thug. 
It is the worst one can say of him. The man 
who earns this opinion of his neighbours is 
despised and feared more than any other kind 
of human being. 

What is this wicked creature like? There 
are several kinds of weasels in America. But 
they all live by killing. They are thirsty for 
warm blood. A long, slim body, slim, short 
legs, the most powerful jaws and the sharpest 
tearing and cutting teeth — these are the crea- 
ture's means of accomplishing its purposes. 
Eyes, nose, and ears are extra keen. If you 
think you saw the red-brown villain glide into 
the old stone wall stand still and squeak like 
a mouse. A little pointed nose comes out, 
the nostrils sniffing noisily, and the beady eyes 
alert. On the* dead pine needles the creature 
seems to fade from sight. You cannot see 

90 



The Weasel 91 

when nor where it went. No wonder some 
people say it is possessed of an evil spirit. 

No bird that nests on or near the ground has 
a chance to hatch her eggs or even to save her 
own life if a weasel comes into the neighbour- 
hood. Its day is devoted to breaking up these 
nests, in a frenzy of destructive malice. 

Underground, the moles, ground squirrels, 
and all the tribe of the field mice have their 
homes. The lithe body of the weasel crowds 
along the " silly walls" of these shallow run- 
ways, and finds the family in the nest. Not 
one escapes the murderer. Sometimes the 
weasel brings together the creatures it kills 
in some protected place, as if storing food 
for a hungry time. But while fresh victims 
can be had, it shows no interest in the stores it 
lays by. 

His own enemies are dogs, foxes, hawks, and 
owls, but he can evade most of them. A side 
jump, quick as lightning, allows the dog or 
fox to pass, and gives the weasel time to glide 
into a hole or up a tree. If near the water, it 
plunges in and swims as if water were its native 
element. On a straight run, weasels make 
wonderful speed by loping along, each bound 
covering several feet. 

One personal virtue we must credit the weasel 



92 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

with: it is brave in defence of its young. It will 
fight any foe, no matter how big and able. It 
glares terribly, and m.any a man hesitates to 
attack a creature possessed with fury, and able 
to move with lightning swiftness. A serpent, 
reared to strike the victim it has brought under 
the spell of its evil, glittering eye, is like the 
weasel at bay. 

The weasel's liking for rats and mice makes 
many a farmer forgive its liking for chickens. 
The losses of grain from the rodents is a very 
serious one when the crops are stored in wooden 
granaries and cribs. One weasel will kill 
dozens of full-grown chickens in a night.; the 
joy of killing becomes a passion, absolutely 
uncontrollable. In the same way, the slaugh- 
ter of rats may Be carried on by the chance 
weasel visitor, simply pausing for the feat on 
one of its excursions far from home. It is 
questionable whether it pays, then, to trap 
and shoot weasels about a barnyard. They 
may be the best friends of the farmer, taking 
his rats and leaving his poultry. 

The weasel of the Southern states does not 
change its coat. But in the cold regions 
this anima] puts on a winter coat of white. 
It changes its name with its clothing. A 
white weasel is called " ermine." We know 



The Weasel 93 

the soft, white fur, with the black tail tip, 
that has long been used to border and line the 
robes of state worn, by kings and high officials 
in many countries. The tinge of yellow on 
flanks and tail is due to the abundant, odor- 
ous secretion of the scent glands, which all 
weasels carry. 

On the glaring white of continuous snow 
fields the ermine is invisible. You would 
think the black tail tip would point it out. 
That is what makes it completely invisible. 
It seems to centre all attention on itself. Cover 
the tail tip, and the outlines of the body show 
faintly. A hawk or owl drops silently down, 
but it is hypnotized by the contrast furnished 
by that moving black spot. Aiming at this, 
the bird of prey misses the body, which is able 
to disappear as if made of quicksilver. 

Knowing that weasels live chiefly on mice, 
a gentleman who met a weasel in the road 
and saw it dodge into the stone wall alongside, 
began to squeak, imitating a mouse as well 
as he could. He was rewarded by seeing the 
wxasel bob up, halt in the attitude of careful 
attention, then begin a careful examination of 
the crevices in the wall. At intervals the 
squeak was repeated, and since the wall yielded 
nothing, the weasel followed the direction from 



94 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

whence the sound came, and this brought it 
out into the grass-grown roadside, beset with 
brush- Back and forth it went, following, 
without doubt, the runway of a mouse. But 
finding no fresh scent and perhaps mistrusting 
the squeaks as imitations, the little creature 
disappeared in the wall again. 

A nest containing four young weasels was 
found by a man repairing his stone wall. The 
babies were so young that their eyes were not 
open; and their pink little bodies had no sign 
of hair except a tuft that stood up like a 
pompadour on top of the head! Mouse fur 
gave softness and warmth to the large nest, 
made of dead grass. The partially eaten bodies 
of meadow mice and birds showed the parents 
to be good providers. The babies looked com- 
fortable and well fed, though too young yet to 
eat solid food. 



THE FISHER 

THE boldest of the martens, the lord of the 
whole weasel family, is the "fisher," or 
"black cat, " called the "pekan" by the Indians 
and the French Canadians. "Fisher" is a mis- 
leading name, for though it likes fish, and 
will steal one when it gets a chance, it does 
not fish, as the martens and others do, 
nor capture live fish in any other way. The 
mink and otter traps are baited with fish. These 
stale scraps are stolen from the traps by the 
cunning fisher. The trappers gave it this name. 
Up among the branches, the hollow trunk 
of a dying tree makes a good home for the 
fisher. At the doorway, as it crouches, watch- 
ing, it looks like a big black cat with an unusually 
bushy tail. On the ground you might mistake 
it for a dark brown fox. Away it glides at 
the first sound of a step; the lithe body can slip 
into a hole six inches in diameter, though it 
is three feet long. Its agility, strength, and 
endurance are amazing. On these qualities 
rest its daring and its success. It can outdo 

05 



96 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

the squirrel and the marten at their own ath- 
letic game. 

The fisher has a great reputation as a hunter. 
It is not afraid to attack a deer, and does this 
successfully by leaping on its neck, and sinking 
its sharp eye-teeth into the jugular vein. It is 
cunning enough to steal a young bear, when its 
mother has gone blackberrying. To attack 
the porcupine is one of its favourite undertak- 
ings, in spite of the quills. Foxes and raccoons 
have been worsted by the fisher, and it preys 
on martens, hares, squirrels, and mice. In 
fact, all the beasts of the woods seem to be 
under its dominion. It makes marvellous 
springs upon them from the trees, or follows 
them, almost flying, from one tree top to 
another. Its fleetness and endurance exceed 
these powers in most animals. 

Strange it is that this bloodthirsty creature 
occasionally turns vegetarian. It enjoys a 
meal of beechnuts, and will travel far to sat- 
isfy a yearning for a taste of catnip! It is 
hated by trappers because it follows the line of 
traps, stealing or mutilating the animals that 
are caught, springing the traps and eating the 
bait, often tearing traps down, as if it under- 
stood what it was about. 

Long distances are covered by a fisher in a 



The Fisher 97 

single night, if hunting is poor. Its broad, 
furred paws spread out and serve as snowshoes, 
if the drifts are deep and new. It makes long 
bounds, light as a cat, always sniffing the air 
for the scent of a rabbit or a partridge. 

Imagine what a dismal fate it is that overtakes 
one of these wildest of wild animals, when at 
last it loses in the game it plays with the trap- 
per, and is taken from the trap alive and sold 
into slavery, to be caged and looked at, fed 
and cared for, all the rest of its life. No won- 
der it will escape, leaving a foot behind, rather 
than be taken. Look into the discontented 
face of the first fisher you meet, in a zoo or a 
travelling menagerie. Was ever a creature 
more homesick for its native wilds? Animal 
collections are most valuable, but oh! the cost 
of them to the poor creatures who, not having 
been born there, remember their days of free- 
dom, and grieve for their return ! Few languish 
in captivity as the fisher does. 



THE OTTER 

THE largest of the weasels is the skulking, 
utterly detestable wolverine. But there 
is a big one, so beautiful and graceful and lov- 
able that he redeems the family reputation. 
This is the otter, now becoming very scarce on 
account of the high price set on his superb 
fur coat. His range covers the whole country, 
all but the dry Southwest. 

You can see an otter in the Zoo, perhaps. 
The rich, glossy, brown fur changes to a paler, 
and often grayish colour on the belly. The 
graceful animal measures over four feet in 
length, counting one foot for the flat tail. 
The small head is set on a long neck, and the 
slender body on very short legs. The broad 
feet are strongly clawed, webbed, and furry 
on the soles. In actions and looks the creature 
reminds us of its relative, the fur seal. Never 
still a moment, the otter weaves back and forth 
in its cage, slides into the pool, and rolls about 
in the water with evident enjoyment. The 
keeper gives it fish for dinner. It is well cared 
for, and apparently happy. 

9 8 



The Otter 99 

But you should see this animal at home. 
Perhaps you are to have that pleasure some day. 
The place a mother otter chooses for her home 
is the bank of a clear, deep mountain stream, 
abounding in fish, and swift enough to keep 
open, in places, even in the coldest weather. 
Back in the bank she digs a hollow for her nest, 
above the water level, and lines it with soft 
grasses. Here the three or four babies are 
born in May, and are safe for the first month 
of their lives. Back and forth, through the 
long hall with an outside door under the water, 
the mother goes for her own food while the young 
are living on milk. Gradually she teaches them 
to eat fish, and finally they follow her out of the 
home nest, and learn to catch fish for themselves. 

Otters are expert swimmers and fishermen. 
They have good eyes, and can see under water 
as well as a fish. They use their fin-like feet 
for oars and their flat tails for rudders; they 
can dive without a splash, chase out the hiding 
fish from behind rocks and under water plants 
and nose about for them in the mud. It is 
fair sport for an otter to fish for the mighty 
salmon, whose cleverness is not equal to his 
own. Whatever the otter wants, he gets, 
among the river-dwellers. He devours cray- 
fish and clams when fish are scarce. 



ioo Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

When the otter babies are first led out by 
their mother, they are afraid of the water. 
They object, but the mother takes them on her 
back and swims about, occasionally ducking 
under, then coming up, to show the young- 
sters how much at home she is in the water, 
and to encourage them to try it. Accidentally (?) 
she lets them roll off, and they have to 
exert themselves. She rescues them, and after 
a while it happens again. Just so your 
father teaches his boys to swim. And the 
youngsters of both families gradually gain con- 
fidence and skill. 

When winter comes the young otters are 
quite independent, though not full-grown until 
nine months old. With the family cares 
dropping from her shoulders, the mother be- 
gins to enjoy her children in a new way. They 
have been companions in fishing; now they have 
leisure to play together. They do not have 
to work all night for their living. They make 
themselves a toboggan slide, choosing a steep 
incline of clay soil that leads to a deep pool 
below the bank. Clearing away sticks and 
tree roots, they make the clay as smooth as 
possible, by sliding down, and returning very 
wet from their plunge at the bottom. Time 
after time they return, like schoolboys sliding 



The Otter 101 

down hill. But the otters have no sleds. They 
only have to turn their forepaws backward 
as they he down at the top of the slide. 

Perhaps it is more fun when winter provides 
a bank of snow for the toboggan slide. If 
we believe the stories we read, two or three 
families of otters assemble and have a merry 
time, sliding down the steep hill and out into 
the frozen river or lake, happiest when one of 
them breaks through and gets an icy bath at 
the end. They are unconscious of the coldest 
weather, for their thick fur is very close. Under 
it is the thick hide, and under this a thick 
layer of fat. What harm could a cold-water 
plunge do? It puts a glare of ice on the snow 
slide every time a romping otter waddles 
back and dries his coat by sliding down again. 

Do they quarrel for their sliding turns? 
Woodsmen say not. They play tag together, 
and a favourite two-handed game, which is to 
pull at a stick to see which youngster's teeth 
have the strongest grip. 

It is a pity that such gentle and beautiful 
creatures should not live undisturbed by men. 
But trappers set snares and traps at these 
otter playgrounds, or hide close by and shoot 
the animals as they play. Their fur is all the 
trapper can think about. 



102 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Little otters are easily tamed, and make 
delightful pets. No suggestion of their weasel 
kinship crops out. They are agile on their 
feet, though they have a rolling gait, and they 
do not mind staying tamely about the house. 
Perhaps this life of ease suits them, and they 
never know what fun they are missing. 



THE SKUNK 

NO wild animal is more inoffensive when 
let alone, more offensive when disturbed, 
than this little, black, flat-bodied, bushy-tailed 
" wood-pussy," with the forked band of white 
on its broad back. The wdde, strongly claw r ed 
feet prove it a digger, like its badger cousin. 
It waddles sedately along, its bushy tail held 
erect, its head near the ground, intent on its 
evening meal. 

A procession of six or eight skunks, moving 
in single file along a shadowy path, in the 
moonlight, or in the tW'ilight of a summer 
evening, means that the mother has brought 
her children forth. 

And a pretty group of kittens they are, their 
black and white coats new T and their handsome 
tails waving proudly like so many plumes. 
After weeks of confinement in the narrow, 
underground nest, with only milk for food, 
it must be a grateful change to the youngsters 
to troop out, and learn by actual practice how 
easy it is to find and catch fat crickets and grass- 
es 



io4 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

hoppers. How good to eat these delicacies 
are! 

So many birds nest on the ground, and are 
asleep when the skunk procession comes by. 
Nothing is better than a nestful of eggs or 
nestlings, or a family of young rabbits. The 
weasel instincts in these hunters stir at the 
taste of blood. 

Perhaps a hen and her chickens have escaped 
from their coop, and are snuggled nice and 
warm in a hollow in the orchard grass. It is 
good sport for the skunks to put them in a 
panic, and capture all, even the old hen. 

There is plenty for skunks to eat all sum- 
mer long. The father returns, joins in the 
nightly hunting trips, the youngsters grow like 
weeds, and each member of the family gets 
so fat by the time autumn comes, that its 
gait becomes more wobbly than ever. It 
is hardly able to balance its fat body on its 
four uncertain legs. 

As winter approaches, the skunk family 
goes below. The first burrow entered may 
belong to another skunk family, by right of 
possession. Do the newcomers oust them, 
or do the ones already there wake up and pro- 
test against being disturbed? Not at all. 
There is no store of food to divide with anv- 



The Skunk 105 

body. The newcomers may have to dig a 
little to make room to sleep in comfort, or if 
they can curl up comfortably without this 
extra work they are all soon sound asleep. 
Throughout the cold w r eather they remain 
dormant. They are not as deep sleepers as 
the badger and woodchuck, however. A warm 
spell above ground rouses them and they come 
out to look around. 

In early spring skunks are thin, and for 
naturally sluggish animals fairly active. Hun- 
ger makes them keen for food. They lay 
open the burrows of ground squirrels, shrews 
and mice, and when they visit the farmyards 
they are as interested in rats and mice as in 
chickens. The farmer will not usually be- 
lieve this, but it is true. When insects begin 
to crawl out of hiding, and their eggs to hatch, 
skunks turn to them. They quite forget 
their weasel appetites and habits. 

The secretion of ill-smelling musk in glands 
near the root of the tail is common to all 
weasels.- The skunk surpasses all others in 
the perfection of this means of protection. A 
quantity of yellow liquid accumulates in the 
gland, and this is discharged with terrible 
certainty of aim at any enemy w^hich takes 
the risk of approaching within six or eight feet. 



106 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The jet of liquid has not only a sickening odour 
but it blinds the eyes of dogs, and chokes them. 
They fling themselves into the water, if there 
is a stream or pond near by, and try to wash 
away the acrid, poisonous stuff. 

After dreadful experience, many animals 
which would be glad to have the tender and 
delicate flesh of a skunk to eat, forego the 
pleasure, because they count the cost. The 
risk of being drenched with the disgusting 
fluid is too great. 

So the skunk lives his peaceful life, prac- 
tically unmolested. No more interesting com- 
panion could be imagined than a tame skunk. 
So people say who have skunks as pets, run- 
ning about the premises, climbing in and out 
of pockets, fondled and praised by their owners, 
but regarded with dread by visitors. They 
are as neat as house cats, never having the 
least odour until the fatal day when something 
frightens one of them, and it defends itself. 

Here is a word of caution and practical 
advice gleaned from Mr. Seton's chapter on 
skunks. The creature is slow to anger; it 
gives a chance of escape to all who meet it 
by chance and are paralyzed with fear and 
uncertainty as to what course to pursue. It 
stops, facing the stranger, and stamps with its 




Gentle and lovable, the otter makes a most interesting pet 




The badger is the prairie dog's mortal foe, but he makes friends, 
occasionally, with the coyote 



The Skunk 107 

front feet on the ground. Now is the best 
time to turn quietly and walk away. This 
will please and satisfy the skunk, for he has 
no malice toward any one. If the stranger 
goes forward, instead of retreating, the skunk 
lifts and spreads his plume-like tail, all but the 
drooping white tip. This is warning number 
two, and still the skunk gives the stranger a 
chance to retreat. If the latter is still obdurate, 
or if he turns and flees precipitately, the tip 
of the tail rises, and then! A thin stream of 
pungent liquid flies forward from the gland's 
long duct. Some observing naturalists say it 
carries ten feet. 

But no one need wait for this. A skunk 
must think a man a fool to invite punishment. 
He deserves the scorn of skunks and men, and 
the solitude that he must seek for some days. 

Skunks are becoming more numeroub, and 
the fur is more popular than ever. Not long 
ago the name alone would have prevented any 
self-respecting lady from wearing it. Now 
the furrier boldly advertises " genuine skunk," 
and buyers pay a better price than for many 
furs. The white stripes are dyed to match 
the dark part. 

The value of a skunk is not entirely in its 
fur. A full-grown animal in good condition 



108 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

will yield a pint of oil from fat that lies on 
the muscles. This oil brings a good price. 
It has medicinal uses, and is sold to whole- 
sale druggists. 

Down South the little spotted skunks, 
which have the same habits as their Northern 
cousins, are marked with narrow white stripes 
on back and sides. 



THE BADGER 

WISCONSIN is called the " Badger State," 
because the early settlers first saw this 
strange animal there. This is the eastern 
border of its range which broadens, north, 
south, and west, from the Great Lakes. A 
small, long-nosed bear that had been through 
a clothes-wringer would be about the shape 
of a badger. His flat, thick body and 
short legs and tail are clothed in silvery 
gray fur that changes to yellowish-white 
on the under parts and brownish-yellow on 
the tail. The face is marked heavily with 
streaks of black and white on a brown ground 
colour. 

The badger's broad front feet are fur- 
nished with five long, curved claws, and their 
purpose is seen if the animal is surprised at a 
little distance from his burrow. Unless the 
ground is baked and hard, he can bury himself 
in it before you can say "Jack Robinson !" 
His claws, the burrowing tools, are operated 
very rapidly by the strong muscles in his short 
109 



no Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

front legs. He seems to flatten out on the 
ground and melt away. 

A badger's burrow goes down five feet or 
more and comes up again, at a little distance. 
So if he gets into his hole and the person 
chasing him tries to drown him out, he must 
cast his eye carefully about or he will miss 
seeing the creature escape by gliding out of 
his back door. Sometimes, when surprised 
on the open prairie, he makes a burrow as he 
goes down. Now if water is poured in after 
him, he quickly backs up, so that his body 
fills the passage tight and the water doesn't 
get past. Run a stick down alongside, and 
the water follows. Then the badger has to 
turn and meet his adversaries. Stubborn and 
a good fighter, he will keep at bay a dog of 
twice his size. His teeth cut deep gashes, 
and dogs seem to know that there is no end 
of a badger's spirit and endurance in an 
open fight. 

Brave as it can be, the badger is a shy inhab- 
itant of the dry prairies. Its food is largely 
mice, ground squirrels and pocket-gophers — 
the creatures that live just underground. 
When settlers come in, the plough destroys 
the burrows of its groundling prey, and the bad- 
ger moves on. 



The Badger in 

In the arid West, badgers live on prairie 
dogs. A pair will take up their abode on the 
outskirts of a village, and live there in peace 
and plenty until the desperate survivors 
depart, leaving the badgers in full possession. 
In late autumn the badger goes down for his 
long sleep. He has fat enough under his loose 
skin to keep him from hunger. Nothing more 
does he know until spring calls him out again. 

Few badgers are left in the " Badger State/' 
and, indeed, in the cultivated prairies of the 
Mississippi valley. They are inhabitants of 
the plains and mountains, where their burrows 
cost horses and cattle many a broken leg on 
the open ranges. Badger skins bring fair 
prices, so there are always men interested in 
catching them just before they enter winter 
quarters, for then the fur is at its best. 

The funniest thing about this strange, flat 
creature is its occasional friendship with a 
coyote. Several reliable people have reported 
seeing a badger trudging along at the heels 
of a coyote, the two evidently good friends. 
Here a good story ends, just where it begins, 
for nobody knows why the two are chums, nor 
whether any mutual advantage is gained by this 
association. It is a strange sight, for the coyote 
and badger are not built to keep step together. 



THE WOLVERINE 

IF YOU would see a professional trapper of 
the Canadian wilds beside himself with rage, 
you must meet him when, weary and footsore, 
he returns from a visit to his line of traps, and 
tells you that a wolverine has been there 
before him. You will notice that he has not 
brought in any skins from all the fifty traps 
or more he has out, in spite of the abundance 
of martens and foxes and other creatures 
known to be about. He is lucky if the sneak- 
thief has not visited his camp during his 
absence, and stolen all that he could carry off. 
It is one of the tricks that has earned for the 
animal the name, of "devil!" 

The wolverine, largest of all the weasels, 
looks more like a bear and a skunk combined. 
"Skunk-bear" is one of his many nicknames. 
His fur is thick and long, dark-brown, with a 
pale, yellowish band that broadens over each 
flank and meets the other at the base of the 
bushy, skunk-like tail. The head, the high 
hips and the flat-footed, lumbering gait are 



The Wolverine 113 

all bear-like characteristics. Though the 
creature walks on its toes, its weight makes 
it seem to walk on the soles of the feet. The 
most important skunk-like trait is the vile 
odour it emits when at bay, caught in a trap, 
or fighting with another animal. This se- 
cretion is also put upon any provisions that the 
beast has stolen from a hunter's stores, and 
upon any carcass stolen from another animal. 
No creature will touch — even if on the point 
of starving — any food that the wolverine 
has defiled, and thus marked for his own. No 
trapper will skin an animal caught in a trap, 
after the wolverine has visited it. Usually 
it is torn and thus made worthless, in addition 
to being soiled so that it is unfit to be touched. 

The cunning of the creature is the most 
exasperating trait he has. He springs the 
traps and eats the bait, but rarely gets caught. 
He cuts the strings of trigger-guns, but doesn't 
get shot. He will carry off the heavy logs 
and tumble over the sticks by which the 
trapper sets his deadfalls, and carry off and 
bury steel traps, for pure malice. 

No matter how deep in a snowbank a trapper 
may bury his bundles of skins, if there is a 
"carcajou" in the region he will dig them out 
and ruin them. His great strength is tested 



ii4 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

in such a job. He can gnaw through green 
logs as fast as a beaver, though he has not a 
beaver's tools, the wonderful chisel teeth. He 
carries timbers that a man could scarcely 
drag. His claws enable him to climb trees, 
so that hanging a bundle of skins or pro- 
visions on a limb is no safeguard for it. How- 
ever, an Indian trapper discovered that if 
he hung up his bundle of skins, and put one of 
the little bells, such as the dogs of his sledge 
teams wear, the tinkling sound kept the wol- 
verines from going out on the limb. He had 
often tried the plan, and felt confident that it 
would always protect his property, so he told 
Mr. Seton. 

The mischief-maker will sometimes enter 
a trapper's cabin, and carry out and hide 
every article of furniture, clothing, and food 
the place contains. Such things as bags of flour, 
sugar, meal, and rice, that he has no use for, 
he tears open and scatters on the ground. 
Bacon, hams and any other meats he may put 
by for his own use at a later time. The skilled 
woodsman can gather together most of his 
utensils by patiently following the wolverine's 
trails, and digging in the snow where the 
creature has carefully covered them. It is 
not surprising that this animal is the best 



The Wolverine 115 

hated of all the denizens of the wilderness. 
Its meanness is unequalled by any other. 

In all probability the wolverine lives mostly 
on small mammals that it routs out of their 
warm nests, and on sickly beasts of larger 
size and stores of other hunting creatures 
that it uncovers where they have been hidden. 
The deer it captures are probably faint from 
fasting and floundering in deep snow. Its huge 
stomach enables it to earn the title of " glut- 
ton" whenever food is plentiful. 

But we must not count the creature a coward. 
Its one redeeming virtue is the fight that the 
mother makes when her young ones are threat- 
ened. Though a wolverine is no bigger than 
a good-sized bulldog, it is afraid of nothing 
when it faces danger of this kind. 



THE BEAR FAMILY 
BEAR TRAITS 

BEARS are found from the frozen polar re- 
gions to the equatorial forests — great and 
small, black, gray, brown, yellow, and white, 
but never spotted nor barred. They walk on 
the soles of their feet, and have claws, strong 
and sharp, on their five toes. Their teeth are 
fitted for cutting, tearing, and chewing, so they 
eat all sorts of food, though they are ranked 
as carnivores (flesh-eaters). They walk clumsily, 
but run swiftly; some climb trees; all swim, 
and enjoy the water; except in warm climates, 
they hibernate in winter. They make homes 
in caves or hollow stumps, or let the snow roof 
them over. They travel long distances, mak- 
ing very distinct trails through the woods, and 
keeping to them year by year. Their range 
narrows wherever settlers come; they become 
shy and cowardly wherever they are hunted. 
But the settler has a long fight to protect his 
cattle and pigs in the farmyard and pasture. 

116 



Bear Traits 117 

In captivity bears are easily cared for, very 
good-natured, amusing in their ways, and in- 
teresting to old and young. The cubs, born 
in cages, rarely grow up. Often the mothers 
destroy them. 

From elk to field mice, bears choose their 
prey, striking down the bison, or listening with 
ear to the earth for the scratching of tiny 
rodents in their runways. In Alaska the big 
brown bears fish the cold rivers for salmon, 
and consume quantities of marsh grass. Every 
region offers different fish and flesh. 

Besides meat, a bear likes fruits and vege- 
tables. He eats grass and digs wild turnips 
on the prairies; berries of every kind are his 
delight. He stands on his hind feet and picks 
choke cherries as fast as anybody could, cram- 
ming his mouth with the fruit, and occasionally 
eating the leaves and tender, but bitter, twigs. 
This fruit comes in September. Earlier it is 
the blackberries that tempt him. Honey is 
his greatest temptation, perhaps. No wonder 
he gets very fat in the fall of the year. He 
eats everything edible and never catches up 
with his appetite. The plenty of harvest 
passes, and snow covers the slopes with deep 
drifts. The bear seeks a solitary den, and goes 
to sleep. 



n8 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Baby bears are born in midwinter after the 
mother goes into her den. There are two 
young ones, as a rule, and they are no bigger 
than new-born kittens, though their mother 
be as big as a cow. Their eyes are closed, so 
are their ears, and they are pink and bare as 
little mice. But the mother nurses her tiny 
offspring with so much tenderness that they 
gain in weight and size, and are quite inde- 
pendent when spring comes and she leads 
them out of the den. 

The father bear is out, now and then, all 
winter. He doesn't fancy a life of absolute 
inaction. The mother bear has her babies to 
think of, and though she is awake much of the 
time, she stays strictly at home, nursing them, 
and having no food whatever herself, she 
lives on the fat laid up under her skin during the 
late summer and fall. She comes out thin and 
hungry after her long fast. 

Few people know how fond bears are of the 
water. They love to fish, and are skilful at 
it. A hunter writes, in Forest and Stream: 

"I came upon a very large bear lying on a 
hollow log across a brook. I found after he had 
left that there was a knot hole through the shell 
of the log and he had run his paw through the 
hole, holding it in the water until he felt a 



Bear Traits 119 

fish, when he would close his paw on it. Thus 
he caught quite a string. 

"The brook was alive with little trout and 
suckers. There was quite a pile of heads left 
on the log. I suppose the oil on his paws at- 
tracted the fish and baited them even better 
than a fly-hook. His toenails were his hooks, 
and sharp ones, too; once grabbed, the fish 
were sure to stay. 

"Bears also catch frogs in these forest 
brooks, and drink the pure cold water in the 
hot summer days. They love to He and cool 
themselves in the oozy pools, so they frequent 
the lowlands of the forest and follow the wind- 
ing brooklets for pleasure as well as for food, 
and make deep paths, which every bear hap- 
pening to go that way will follow. They 
often cross narrow places in lakes and rivers. 
They are good swimmers and appear to love 
to take a turn in the water. When fat they 
float, and their backs look like logs in the water. 
When lean, only the head is above water as 
they swim. 

"If you row up to a bear which is swimming 
he will probably capsize your boat in an 
effort to get into it. Seeing a boat, the bear 
opens his mouth, gnashes his teeth, and makes 
a growling, grumbling noise. When a bear 



120 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

gets caught in a trap he makes for water if 
there is a brook or lake that he can reach. If 
it is deep enough he will drown. " 

BEARS ARE DANGEROUS PLAYFELLOWS 

Bears are playful creatures, and friendly to 
the passing people, who are tempted to offer 
them something to eat, in spite of the danger 
of being arrested if seen in the act by a police- 
man. I have seen a person, more rash than 
wise, stroke a bear's nose through the cage 
bars. Nothing happened. But some day that 
man may have his finger nipped off. It would 
mean nothing to a bear, but the man might 
regret his loss. Bears' teeth are strong, and 
quick to close on anything that is offered. 

Pet bears are treacherous with teeth and 
claws. Just a yawn may spread the claws and 
bring them down with cruel force, tearing the 
flesh, and disfiguring a child for life. If you 
have a bear cub, do not trust it to the children. 
Sell it to some zoological collector before it is 
half-grown. This advice you will always get 
from those who know and like bears best. 
The manners of a bear are rough at best. His 
strength behind those terribly sharp claws 
makes his playful antics dangerous. 



THE GRIZZLY BEAP 

WHAT is the most dreadful wild animal 
.that lives in this country? I am sure 
that the grizzly bear will be the first one that 
comes to mind. Haven't we all heard and read 
of this giant which stands erect, welcomes the 
stranger with open arms, and whose hug is 
certain death? It is he who used to strike 
down the buffalo bull with a single blow of his 
paw, and later cost the cattle ranger many a 
good steer and pony, to satisfy his hunger. 
Certainly the grizzly bear is first among Amer- 
ican beasts of prey. 

If there is a grizzly in the Zoo, go and make 
his acquaintance. Where did he get that 
name? There is nothing "grewsome" about 
this comfortable, fat old fellow. He plods 
about from side to side of his cage, and looks 
with patient serenity at the people outside 
who seem to be so interested in him. 

" Grizzly " means gray. The brown hair that 
makes this creature's thick coat looks as if it 
had been lightly sprinkled with white on the 



122 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

upper parts. The long, dark hairs are tipped with 
white. This gives the bear his beautiful name, 
" silver-tip." The more white on the hairs, the 
paler the fur of course. Sometimes an individual 
looks almost like a polar bear, at a little dis- 
tance. Others show but little white. The result 
is a very dark grizzly. The darkest hair is 
along the spine, on the ears, and on the legs. 

The grizzly looks most ferocious when he raises 
the ruff of long hair on his humped shoulders, 
and his head swings threateningly from side to 
side. Those terrible claws seem to attract es- 
pecial attention, though the paws rest on the 
ground, as if being fore-feet was their whole duty. 

The size and form and use of the front paws 
are subjects on which we all have gained some 
ideas. The bear stands up; his huge body 
is clumsily balanced on the hind legs, and the 
front ones become arms. The muscles are 
strong. The huge paws, with five long, curved 
claws on each, are able to strike a terrific blow 
that stuns and then tears the flesh of the vic- 
tim. The full force of one stroke will kill 
and tear open the body of an elk or a cow. 

WHAT DOES A GRIZZLY BEAR EAT? 

The old hunter, in the days when few men 
visited the wild Western country, would answer 



The Grizzly Bear 123 

you that the beast is a flesh-eater; that he 
strikes down an elk, a deer, or a bison. The 
settlers' cattle, horses, sheep were stolen by 
this bold trespasser on the farmyards. But 
he may not have watched this bear hunting 
gophers and ground squirrels, and the abund- 
ant field mice, and even smaller creatures, not 
warm-blooded. 

We know that the monarch of the wilds tears 
dead logs open to find the fat grubs of beetles 
and other insects. He is patient and very 
skilful in picking up ants with the tips of his 
great claws which have torn open the hill. The 
bees sting him unmercifully, but he feasts upon 
the young insects, and upon the stores of honey 
and bee-bread laid up in the comb, which is 
■uncovered by tearing open a "bee tree." He 
loves to take the roof off of the yellow jackets' 
buried combs, full of tidbits, to get which he 
will endure the stings of the outraged colony. 
A man would not willingly dare the fury of 
these cruel hornets. 

The grizzly's flat hind feet have smaller 
claws, and they rest on the ground, as yours 
and mine do. They are plantigrade, the sole, 
from toe to heel, used for walking, not merely 
the toes, as with the cats. When the front 
paws are down, the heels or wrists do not rest 



124 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

on the ground. These feet are not, then, quite 
plantigrade, but more cat-like. The bear has 
no power to retract its claws, as a cat has. 

The bear's teeth are perfect for all kinds of 
food. The tearing eye-teeth are large, and the 
grinders have broad, knobbed crowns for crush- 
ing bones. There are cutting teeth above and 
below in front. 

The tail is a mere ornament, I think. It is 
absurdly short, and usually is lost sight of in 
the long hair of the flanks. I have never seen 
a bear wag his tail, so I fancy he must be quite 
unconscious that he has one. The ears are 
short and round, and on them bears depend 
a great deal. The sensitive nose, too, locates 
danger by scenting it from afar. 

The grizzly is very rare now, except in the 
mountainous wilds of British Columbia. He 
was too big and too brave, too destructive to 
the early settlers' property, to escape the 
rifle of the newcomer. The animals on which 
the grizzly naturally preyed were gradually 
driven out, and the bear seems to have realized 
that his only chance for life was to escape 
the gun. The brave were killed. The cowards 
only survived, and had young ones. 

So it will be hard to find a fierce grizzly even 



The Grizzly Bear 125 

among the few that remain on the wildest 
slopes of the Rockies. The moment human 
neighbours appear, the bear moves on. He 
may suddenly see a woman or child come into 
his berry patch. He drops down on all fours, 
and takes to the covert as fast as he can go. 
He doesn't wish to be seen. His ancestral 
bravery is replaced by fear, that has also be- 
come hereditary. 

If a grizzly is cornered, he will use his tre- 
mendous strength in self-defense. His power- 
ful muscles are able for the conflict. But he 
knows that to rim away is safest. He cannot 
reach the man behind the gun. His only 
chance is to increase the distance between him- 
self and the hunter. 

This bear is clumsy, but he can run as fast 
as a horse, and much better over broken 
ground overlaid with fallen timber. And his 
endurance in a race is astonishing. His breath 
never gives out. 

The grizzly is not afraid of any other bear. 
With teeth and claws he scratches his auto- 
graph on the trunks of poplars and pine trees, 
as high up as he can reach, to let others know 
how tall he is, and to dare them to hunt in the 
territory he thus lays out for his own. If a 
rival appears who dares risk a meeting, they 



126 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

fight. The defeated one departs, if he is 
able to travel. 

The grizzly is able to hold his own against 
any other animal. Only the mountain lion 
dares fight him. It is very doubtful if this 
giant cat ever defeated this bear in open fight. 

A mud wallow is a bear's delight. Here 
he soaks his thick fur coat, and for the cool- 
ness and refreshment he gets out of it, endures 
the swarms of gnats and mosquitoes. His 
sensibilities are not so keen as ours. 

The twilight is his favourite time for going 
hunting, though any time of day or night finds 
him abroad. He has trails that are followed 
until they are well-worn paths. Here the bear- 
traps are set. Hunters are very careful to 
advise inexperienced sportsmen to keep out 
of the bear trails. There are good reasons. 
To meet a bear face to face, and to get a foot 
into a trap are both poor beginnings for a 
holiday. Not every tenderfoot remembers, 
in the critical moment, that to go up a tree 
will save him from an angry bear who believes 
he has to fight. The grizzly does not climb 
trees. This is worth knowing and remembering. 

The biggest race of grizzlies is the Calif ornian, 
now almost, if not quite, exterminated in the 
Sierra Nevada mountains. 



The Grizzly Bear 127 

The temper of a grizzly bear is naturally 
mild. The cubs play together, sprawling, 
punching, clinching like wrestlers, rolling about, 
and playing tricks on each other and their patient 
mother. The patience of the old bear is not 
always equal to the strain they put upon it. 
A bear cub gets many a spanking from his 
mother's broad palm. Indeed, sometimes she 
spanks her children because she has done 
something foolish herself, and sees her mistake 
too late to mend it. 

An explorer in the Rockies suddenly came 
upon a bear with two cubs. He had no gun. 
His fright was equalled by the mother bear's. 

Before he could decided how to save his life, 
the bear turned and fled down that rocky trail, 
spanking her two cubs at every jump, though 
each was going as fast as its legs could carry it. 
The man sat down and laughed till he almost 
cried. It was so unexpected and so funny 
to see those little bears look around reproach- 
fully at their angry parent every time they felt 
the weight of her paw, helping them to hurry. 



THE BLACK BEAR 

THE black bear is not always black, but 
certain traits are always seen in it. Its 
facial profile is straight. Its curved claws are 
short on the front paws; its haunches are 
higher than the shoulders, and rounded, and 
the head swings low. A big specimen weighs 
three hundred pounds. A big grizzly may 
weigh three times as much. 

The coat of a black bear ought to be glossy 
black, but, especially west of the Mississippi 
River, brown bears of this species appear, 
and a good many of them are a pale cinnamon 
colour. These " cinnamon bears" are not a 
distinct kind. A black bear often has one 
black cub and one pale one, and a cinnamon 
bear may have dark or pale brown cubs. The 
colour does not seem to be a dependable 
character. 

It is very strange that the black bear is still 
found so widely distributed over the country, 
while the grizzly's range has so narrowed. The 
numbers of each have greatly diminished, as 

128 



The Black Bear 129 

the country has become settled. The black 
bear's advantage is that he keeps to the woods. 
The wild districts still give it food and shelter. 

The grizzly loves open country, and since 
settlers came it can no longer live in such 
regions. It has only the mountain fastnesses 
left. It is so big that it is a shining mark for 
every hunter when it crosses open ground. 

The black bear can climb a tree, and he can 
run like a fox. If he scents a man a mile away 
he is off, in the opposite direction, to escape 
his arch enemy. When run down by dogs, he 
stands his ground and fights with bravery, and 
often with success. But he shrinks at first 
from combat, apparently knowing that a man 
with a gun is something he can neither under- 
stand nor conquer. This shyness is the trait 
that has saved the race from being exterminated. 

All the bear stories told in earlier days by the 
first settlers of the eastern half of this country 
were about the black bear. His fondness for 
sweets brought him to grief when he over- 
turned the farmer's beehives. His preference 
for pork led him to endanger his life by steal- 
ing pigs, whose squeals roused the farmer with 
his gun. Yet inconspicuous creatures like 
gophers, meadow mice and insects, supple- 
menting grapes, plums and berries, in the woods, 



130 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

fatten the black bears for their winter fast. 
And they live on, in spite of conflicts with 
civilization. 

The only hard time in the year is the late 
spring, when an empty stomach drives the bear 
out of forage where there are few signs of 
food. The soles of the feet are tender, and this 
makes hard going. But bugs and snakes 
are beginning to stir, there are tender roots 
and shoots, budded and full of sap. So even 
at first, the bear does not go back as hungry 
as he left his den. Soon the mice are scurry- 
ing along their shallow runways, and the bear 
listens for them and claws them out. No more 
famine for him when creatures of the shallow 
runways wake up and let him know their 
whereabouts. 

The trick bear of the circus is likely to be a 
black bear, tamed and taught in its early years. 
It is not a good plan for ordinary people to 
attempt to tame a cub. He grows to be a 
nuisance as he becomes conscious of his strength, 
and the cunning little fellow may do some real 
damage. 

Different species of the black bear inhabit 
remote regions of the country. We should 
expect the big bear of the Everglades to differ 
from the Labrador black bear, and their black 



The Black Bear 131 

cousins in Alaska. But they all belong in the 
black bear group. 

The black bear of Europe was a shaggy, 
savage creature, which got itself exterminated 
wherever man settled. The result is that its 
strongholds now are the wild mountain regions 
only. It is the bear of the old story books, 
and the often unhappy dancing bear of the 
wandering Italian in America. 



APRIL NEWS ABOUT BEARS 

FROM a hunter's notebook, we learn much. 
"Bears have mostly left their dens now, 
and are tramping about promiscuously by the 
side of brooks and swampy places seeking for 
any green thing, and keeping one eye open for 
early frogs, and will, as soon as the snow is 
gone, overhaul the rotten logs for ants and 
worms. They are also sharp fishers, and will 
manage to secure a tempting string of brook 
trout long before we bipeds think of trying our 
luck. 

"Should you meet a bear in the woods about 
this time of year, he would immediately rise 
on his haunches in great majesty and give an 
enormous snort; then he would whistle and 
champ his teeth in such a manner as to make 
it necessary for you to pull your hat down on 
your head. But don't run. When they see 
you are running from them, bears are apt to 
think you are calling them, and have something 
good for them to eat, and they will follow you 
and try to keep up. Stand your ground and 

13? 



April News About Bears 133 

keep your eye on his eye — don't flinch, even 
if he should make a few lively jumps toward 
you on his hind legs. Stand and eye him — 
he is not coming clear to you — it is only to 
try your mettle, he is sizing you up, and will 
himself sneak off before long, unless you make 
a rush yourself in the opposite direction. The 
female bear with cubs is an exception, and cau- 
tion and coolness are necessary in their presence. 
"A gentleman on his way down the river one 
fall, met a large cub bear, he had no weapon 
about him; he stepped from the path into the 
woods, and directly the mother bear and an- 
other cub came rushing along. The man, who 
was from the city, and had never seen a loose 
bear, let out his voice the full bigness of his 
lungs, and at the same time spread out his 
umbrella, which he had with him, upon which 
the big mother bear stepped back a few paces 
and the cubs ran away. The old bear, however, 
gave a few extra jumps toward the man in a 
moment, and was on the point of embracing 
him when, just in the nick of time, one of the 
guides came running down the road, being 
attracted by the cry, and Mrs. Bear gave a 
loud growl and suddenly left to see to her 
family. The fortunate appearance of the guide 
at this juncture saved a life. 



134 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

"Some say a bear cannot climb a tree small 
enough to reach his arms around, but this is 
a mistake, for I once caught a good-sized bear 
in a heavy trap, and he climbed a fir tree thirty 
or forty feet tall and strung the trap over the 
top of it, which slipped down several feet and 
brought up on the limbs, although the tree 
was not more than ten inches through at the 
butt. The tree had to be cut down to get the 
bear. 

"I once caught a bear in a trap near the shore 
of a lake, and he c imbed a tree that was 
separated in three parts and spread out, the 
crotch being some ten feet from the ground. 
On his trying to come down, the trap brought 
up in the crotch and let him down so that his 
feet just touched a log underneath. I found 
him in this position. When his hind feet touched 
the log he would give a jump and up he would 
go his length, and then down again. Thus he 
kept jumping and dancing, and every time he 
jumped he would scream loud enough to scare 
the owls out of the woods. 

"I was camping at the head of Mellychunke- 
monk Lake with my wife and two children one 
night during my fall hunt, and in the night we 
heard a bear bellowing at a tremendous rate 
every fifteen minutes during the latter part 




Bears write their autographs with teeth and claws high up on the 
steins of young poplar trees 



The black bear's fur is of even length and he stands higher at the 

hips than at the shoulders. His front claws are not 

long, like the grizzly's 



April News -About Bears 135 

of the night. I was sure the old fellow was in 
one of the traps I had set up north some five 
or six miles, as the sound was like a bear in a 
trap. At daylight I started off to tend my 
traps. After an hour or two I reached my 
first trap, and sure enough it was gone; such 
ploughing up of moss and tearing of trees was 
frightful to behold! I followed the signs as 
far as I could, feeling sure I had some large 
game worth looking after and that there was 
just enough danger in it to make it exciting, 
for, mind you, frequently another bear comes to 
see what the row is about, and if you have 
caught a cub bear, the old mother may be there : 
not a very desirable situation for one hunter 
alone. 

"Iffollowed on, and the diggings and tearings 
led me to a fallen pine tree lying up some 
feet from the ground, and being perhaps one 
hundred feet long. On to this tree the crea- 
ture went, and on to it I went, my excited brain 
tuned .to the highest pitch; I followed to the 
end, and could see no place where the animal 
had jumped off. I retraced my steps, keeping 
a sharp lookout on either side of the tree for a 
sign. When about midway of the tree I 
heard a scream near my head — such an 
unearthly scream, different from anything I 



136 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

ever heard before in my life. It raised my 
hat, which fell to the ground. I jumped nearly 
or quite ten feet, turning partly around in the 
air, facing the music when I struck the ground, 
and looking up, behold! A large-sized bear 
hung in a tree by his hind feet, his head nearly 
reaching my head as I passed under him. 
I got such a thorough scare that it lasted me 
for two days. 

"The tree grew near a log and the bear reached 
one of the lower limbs and swung himself 
into it. He had not been in the trap long, and 
was very savage." 

(All quoted from hunter's notebook) 



THE IMPRISONED BEAR 

ABOUT the time that your grandfather was 
a little boy, Henry, aged eight, and Tom, 
four years older, lived with the rest of a big 
family in a wild, partly wooded, part of New 
York state, on a farm that was only partly 
cleared of trees and brush. Their parents were 
pioneers, and a lucky thing for them all it was 
that hunting, fishing and trapping were good in 
the region. A large part of their living de- 
pended on these outside industries, which were 
more exciting than grubbing up tree roots, and 
building stone walls. The crops and farm 
animals had to be protected from wild beasts. 
A bear occasionally ventured into the pasture 
and stole a calf or a sheep. 

Tom and Henry w^ere early trained to shoot 
straight with rifle and shotgun, and they knew 
the Indian's crafty skill in setting traps for 
beaver, mink and otter. But at the time this 
story tells about, big game was not so plenty 
as it used to be, and the two boys had earned 
the privilege of going some miles from home, 

137 



138 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

up the course of a river, to wilder country, 
where animals with the most valuable fur still 
were to be « found. Only their mother felt 
anxious for fear that they might not have time 
enough to make the round of their traps, and 
get home before dark. But they reminded her 
that there was the cabin, and they could safely 
stay in it over night, if they had not time to 
get home before dark. Their father trusted 
them to do nothing reckless, and thought the 
winter's trapping programme would be a good 
training for them, and bring in a good many 
dollars, too. 

One morning in early December the boys 
started out, armed with the old rifle, plenty 
of ammunition, a hatchet, a few extra traps 
and a full dinner pail. There had been a light 
snow the night before, and the tracks of various 
small people of the woods were plainly read 
by the trained eyes of the two brothers. But 
small game had but a passing interest for them. 
They hurried on, following the trails that served 
as roads, and at length came to the log house, 
now deserted, but once the home of an old 
woodsman, known as "the hermit." Tracks, 
big and little, were numerous here, and Tom 
remarked that there was firewood enough in- 
side, in case they ever had to stop in the cabin 



The Imprisoned Bear 139 

over night. There were matches, too, on the 
shelf above the fireplace. 

Pushing on for some distance they came to 
the first of their string of traps. It was 
absorbing work to reset and bait each one, 
and artfully hide it from too plain view. Some 
visitors had taken the bait without being caught; 
others had met death in the attempt. Before 
they had reached their last trap the short 
afternoon was nearly gone. As they sat down to 
eat their late dinner, the first falling snowflakes 
warned them that another storm was coming, 
and they decided to start at once for home. 

It was not so easy to hurry on the return 
trip. They had several squirrels and par- 
tridges in their bag, and besides the skins taken 
on their rounds they carried home two broken 
traps for repairs. They had had little rest, 
and less food. The lowering sky discouraged 
them. They had barely enough daylight left 
to see the cabin. When they got that far on 
the way they had no choice but to spend the 
night there, for whirling snow had obliterated 
their morning tracks, the wind was howling, 
and there was nothing to guide them, if they 
set out. 

The younger boy was pretty much shaken 
by the strangeness of his surroundings, after 



140 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

the hard day's work, and he did not at all like 
the idea of being away from home at night, 
much less in a cold, deserted cabin, and only 
a pile of straw in a rude bunk, with dingy, 
tattered covers, for a bed. He began to whim- 
per at thought of the anxious home folks, who 
would spend the night in waiting for morning. 
But he saw Tom bravely facing the difficulty, 
by chopping up some kindling, and lighting a 
fire. Henry decided to be a man, instead of a 
baby; so he helped dress a partridge for their 
supper, and roasted it to a turn on a forked 
stick. They had no dishes, and no table, 
but the dinner pail furnished all they needed 
to supplement the delicious roast. Their spirits 
rose, as their hunger disappeared, and they 
cheerfully planned a start for home as soon 
as daylight came. 

A noise outside the door startled the boys into 
sudden silence. That scratching on the log 
wall meant one thing to both boys. "It's a 
bear!" whispered Henry, his yoice gone with 
fright. Tom sprang to the door and looked 
out. It was truly the outline of a bear he saw 
against the snow, and the light from the fire- 
place dazed the big fellow for a moment or 
he would probably have come right in. Slam- 
ming the door, and shouting to Henry to carry 



The Imprisoned Bear 141 

the skins and ammunition up the rickety ladder, 
Tom seized the gun and followed, pulling the 
ladder up after him. 

The bear, unused to company, and the sight 
of fire, entered very cautiously, first pushing 
the door open, and sniffing the air suspiciously. 
Seeing nothing of the boys, hearing nothing 
of them, and smelling the savory odour of 
roast partridge, he pawed over the dinner 
pail, and ate every scrap of food the boys had 
left. They lay on their faces above him, 
watching all his movements intently through 
the wide cracks in the rude floor of the attic. 
No sleep for them, yet they had lost their fear, 
and the sight of the big bear falling off to sleep, 
his nose lying flat between his forepaws on the 
floor, gave Tom an idea. " We'll play him a 
trick. He thinks this cabin belongs to him. 
We'll let him have it all to himself, until we 
come again." 

Through the attic window the boys easily 
let themselves down, by the help of the roof 
of a low, lean-to shed. Slipping up to the 
door Tom pulled it shut, first pulling the latch- 
string through on the outside, and being 
sure that the heavy latch was secure inside. 

Disturbed by the noise of the closing door, 
Bruin rose, and sniffing the boys, who returned 



142 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

to their attic watch tower, discovered that the 
door was shut, and that he was a prisoner. Do 
what he would, he could not open the door. 

At dawn the boys were on the way home 
and answering the shouts of the search party 
which came out to find them. Their clear, 
strong voices reassured the anxious home 
folks. But when they said they had a bear 
shut up in the cabin, everybody laughed, and 
their father said they needed something to 
eat. Both boys insisted that they were not 
hungry, and offered to prove their story. So 
back they went, and it was the dogs, which 
ran ahead and scented the prisoner, that made 
the doubting members of the party believe. 
The horses, too, showed great nervousness, 
refusing to go near the cabin. Nothing fright- 
ens a horse like the smell of a bear! Tying 
the excited team at a proper distance, the party 
walked up to the cabin, where Tom completed 
his triumph by slaying what proved to be the 
largest bear in the whole region, a crafty old 
villain, with many murders of valuable farm 
animals charged to his account by farmers, 
far and near. He had evaded traps and hunt- 
ers for years, to fall at last a captive to two 
frightened, but courageous boys. 



THE BROWN BEARS OF ALASKA 

THE finding of gold in Alaska led people 
to flock by thousands into that cold and 
almost unknown country. The gold-seekers 
were followed by others who went with more 
sober purposes, some to settle and help develop 
the country, some to trade, some to explore. 
Gold is not the only treasure that was wait- 
ing for men in Alaska. The mineral riches of 
that country are beyond computation, and only 
here and there have they been touched. The 
rivers are full of salmon and other fish. The 
snow fields and mountains are the homes of 
valuable fur-bearing animals. Among these 
is a race of big brown bears, beautiful, vigor- 
ous, noble creatures, like our grizzly bear in 
having high shoulders, but quite distinct from 
all other American bears, for all that. These 
animals have short, thick claws, very broad, 
massive heads, and their brown coats are rich 
in colour and very shaggy. 

A half-dozen distinct kinds of Alaskan brown 
bears have been found already in that vast 
143 



144 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

country. Not all of us can see them at home, 
nor see the splendid skins brought home by 
hunters. But fortunately these animals are 
comfortable in the Zoo. There they live 
apparently happy lives, and people by thou- 
sands pass their cages, read the unfamiliar Indian 
names, and admire the handsome strangers. 

The Kodiak .bear has a superb golden-brown 
coat of long, thick fur, darkest just after the 
moult, in early summer. Even in April, 
when it is palest, the colour is a rich golden- 
yellow, not at all ugly, like the cinnamon 
bear's faded coat. 

The chief distinction of the Kodiak bear is 
this: he is the biggest bear now living, and the 
largest of all flesh-eating animals. What would 
you think if you met a bear that had a shoulder 
height of fifty-one inches? A skin nine feet 
long and ten feet across the shoulders makes a 
very good-sized rug. Such are furnished only 
by Kodiak bears of mature years. For them 
the hunter must go to Kodiak Island, one of 
the Aleutian group, or eastward in the same 
latitude. And if he wants the darkest possible 
colour and the thickest pelt, he goes in Sep- 
tember. 

At the Zoo, notice the flat, broad forehead 
of the Kodiak bear, which makes a step down 



The Brown Bears of Alaska 145 

to the level of the short, straight, square nose. 
Compare the short claws with the grizzly's 
long ones. Compare the Yakutat and other 
Alaskan bears with their big cousin, the Kodiak. 
Watch the behaviour of the different ones, 
to find out their tempers. Which ones are most 
playful? Which ones are in small, separate 
cages? Can you find out why? Are Alaskan 
bears able to climb trees? See if there are 
tree trunks for them in their cages. What 
provision is made for their comfort and amuse- 
ment? How is the keeper armed who goes 
among them? What does he feed them? 
Watch them as they eat. 



THE POLAR BEAR 

IT IS a great pleasure to meet a polar bear 
in the cage at the Zoo. The tall, flat-sided 
stranger is homesick, I know. His attitude 
expresses dejection as he weaves back and 
forth, swaying his head from side to side. He 
must be uncomfortable in our warm climate, 
though white is the coolest colour he could put 
on. The keeper says he is not unhappy, and 
that he enjoys his plunge in the pool quite as 
much as if it had a block of ice in it. Do you 
believe the man knows? 

What are the lonesome polar bear's brothers 
about, up around the ice-bound borders of the 
Arctic seas? When it is June in New York 
the sun must be giving the Esquimaux their 
brief summer — the sun is visible day and night, 
near the horizon. The ground is free from snow 
in patches, and here are moss and grasses and 
berries of strange kinds. The ice melts back 
toward the polar regions, and open water lies 
between islands which are lost from sight most 
of the year under the ice fields. 

146 



The Polar Bear 147 

The polar bears are out. They are happy to 
explore the bare spots of ground for roots, 
moss, and berries. Eagerly they crop the grass. 
The young ones, with their mother, are still 
babies, but she takes them with her. They 
nibble as she does, and like the green things. 
By the edge of the sea the young seals sun them- 
selves on the rocks, and here young walruses 
come out of the water. The polar bear is 
skilled in the capture of both. They are the 
prey that furnish her with food for herself and 
her young. If she cannot get to them quickly 
enough, she takes to the water, swims out a 
little distance, then attacks them under water 
as they think they are plunging to safety. 
Salmon are her prey, also; she is a skilled and 
patient fisherman. 

The sea throws a good deal of food on shore 
for the bears. A stranded whale lasts a long 
, time, and its blubber is good provender. Dead 
herring and other fish sometimes drift ashore 
in quantities, as if especially for the polar bears. 
These events fill the brief summer days that 
last till the polar night comes on — the long 
months without the sun. 

When snows begin to cover the ground in 
deep drifts, the fat bear lies down and lets 
it cover her over. Her warmth keeps an open 



148 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

space around her, and a chimney above her 
steams with her breath. Here she is utterly 
indifferent to events outside, utterly content 
to stay where she is. The two tiny cubs are 
born, and she suckles them, and keeps them 
warm. By spring they are frisky and strong. 
Their mother scrambles out of her melting ice 
house and they scramble after her. Plenty 
of fish they find where the water laps the 
melting shore line. Birds are abundant. Hunt- 
ing and fishing are rare sports for young polar 
bears. They learn quickly to float and to 
swim under water, and to lie still on a cake 
of ice when in danger of being seen by an 
enemy. 

So strong and skilful an animal has things 
its own way in the frozen North. The Es- 
quimau hunter is the most successful enemy 
of the polar bear. He needs the white fur and 
the fat and flesh for food and warmth. So he 
takes these great beasts by his cunning — as 
many as he needs. 

White men are astonished at the number 
and the tameness of polar bears inhabiting 
certain islands in the Northern seas. It is told 
to the shame of some hunters that they seize 
the opportunity to butcher all they can, as 
the weasel does in his world. The joy of kill- 



The Polar Bear 149 

ing is not sportsmanship. The true sportsman 
has no respect for the braggart who helps to 
exterminate any game by slaughter. The 
scarcity of polar bears is due to the activity of 
the few unprincipled hunters who have killed 
them by the dozens. 



THE RACCOON 

THIS little cousin of the bear has a most 
amusing habit. He dips his food in water 
before he eats it, if there is water at hand. 
The water need not be very clean. I have 
seen a caged coon dip a slice of bread into a 
basin of very dirty water, then eat it with 
apparent enjoyment. His Latin name, Lotor, 
means "the washer." The surname that 
precedes it is Procyon. See if you can find 
that name in the list of stars, and the reason 
why the raccoon has it also. The tale that 
unfolds is most interesting. 

The coon is nearly three feet long, and stout, 
with slender, short legs, ending in strongly 
clawed feet. His muzzle and ears are sharp, 
and remind one of a fox. His face has a patch 
of black on each gray cheek. The hair that 
covers the body is grayish with a yellow tone, 
due to the banding of each long, coarse hair. 
The tail is ringed with black and white. 

When corn is in the milk the coon slips out 
of his cave, or hollow tree, and makes tracks 

150 




' Say! Wouldn't dat 'possum mek yo' mouf watah, jes' to 
look at 'im? " 



The Raccoon 151 

for the cornfield. It is night, and the farmer 
is asleep. There, unmolested, the coon bears 
down the stalks or climbs them, and stripping 
the green husks, helps himself to the tender, 
milky grains. Soon they will harden, he 
knows. So he samples far more ears than he 
can eat and this is why the farmer does not 
love him. Many a bushel of corn is destroyed 
by the wastefulness of this little beast and he 
steals poultry night after night, unless caught 
at it. 

In the fall the dogs and guns are taken out to 
hunt the coon, and thus take revenge. They 
will sell his skin to the furrier for a good price. 
But in many regions a raccoon eats only the 
wild crops, nuts, wild fruits, bugs, fish, snakes, 
birds and their eggs, hornets, and bees and their 
sweet stores. Fortunate indeed he is to have 
so undiscriminating an appetite, for when 
he comes out of his hollow tree in spring he is 
lean and hungry, and he eats everything he 
can find that is at all edible. 

An old coon-hunter writes: "The raccoon 
has a cry something like that of the little owl, 
but louder, clearer and without the closing 
trill. I often hear both cries at the same time. 

"In the fall of '86 I had a coon in my door- 
yard, chained under the trees. Nightly he 



152 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

answered the coons in the forest. When 
uttering the call, or cry, he sat on his haunches, 
threw up his head, so that one side of his 
mouth was upward, and blew the sound through 
the half-closed lips into the upper air. He 
was a ventriloquist. The cry seemed to come 
from the tree tops above him. 

"The raccoon sometimes repeats a loud 
cluck. This cry can be heard on still nights 
half a mile away. The cubs are warned when 
in danger by a cry of one note. A young coon 
that I had caught in a steel trap was carefully 
tended by an old male. The wound on his 
leg was frequently licked, and the old coon 
was always uneasy when the young fellow 
seemed to be in pain, and would purr like 
a cat." 



A COON HUNT IN TEXAS 

(A letter to Forest and Stream tells this story) 

LAST autumn I spent a few weeks in a little 
Texas town, enjoying the delightful climate 
and the open hospitality of my friends. 

One afternoon, Tom, who was always sug- 
gesting something for my amusement, pro- 
posed a coon hunt; as it was a novelty to me, 
I at once signified eagerness to go; so without 
more ado we mounted our horses, and strap- 
ping a couple of heavy blankets behind each 
saddle, set out for the cabin of an old negro, 
who, Tom said, was a great coon-hunter. 

After a brisk ride of a couple of hours, we 
arrived just after sunset at a little tw r o-roomed 
house from which a troop of little darkeys 
came running out to the fence, grinning and 
blinking their big, black eyes to see who we 
were. My friends were recognized at once, 
and greeted with a chorus of welcome ex- 
clamations: " How-d'ye-do, Mass' Tom?" and 
"How is you, Mass' Phil?" sounded from 
all sides. These grinning little imps, with 

153 



154 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

glistening white teeth, took charge of our 
horses, and we went into the house where 
we found old Aunt Cindy Ann, who set about 
getting our supper, while we chatted and smoked 
before the big fireplace, in which a couple 
of hickory logs were blazing and crackling. 

When we were called into the next room 
to supper, Cindy Ann herself was standing 
near the table ready to serve us. Our ride 
had given us a keen appetite, and we did 
ample justice to the dusky cook's fried chicken, 
hot biscuits, and coffee. 

In the meantime, Uncle George, Aunt 
Cindy's "ole man," accompanied by two 
strapping negro boys, came in from the field. 
He, too, gave us a warm welcome, and was 
delighted when he learned the object of our 
visit. 

Soon we were ready to start. The two 
negro boys carried sharp axes. Uncle George 
himself had a rusty old army musket, and the 
little negroes carried long torches of fat pine. 
A blast or two from Uncle George's horn set 
all his own dogs, of which there were several, 
and all the others for miles around, to barking 
and howling. 

The woods were comparatively open at 
first, and with the aid of the torches we made 



A Coon Hunt in Texas 155 

fair progress, Uncle George stopping occa- 
sionally to cry. "Hi, there, Buck! Hunt 'em 
up, Trailer!" or some other words of encourage- 
ment to the dogs, but we tramped and tramped, 
without the least sign of success until I was 
weary and footsore. My legs ached, but I 
did my best to show no signs of fatigue. At 
last, when I seemed just ready to drop from 
exhaustion, Old Blue, one of the lead dogs, 
set up a bark which was instantly echoed 
by all the other hounds in the pack. This 
seemed to put new life into our whole party. 
We paused a moment to see what course the 
dogs would take, and then started after them. 
Away we went pell-mell through the brush 
and thickets, over briers and brambles, and 
into gullies and ditches, out of which we 
managed to scramble somehow, bent only on 
the headlong chase. 

At length we came up with the dogs. They 
had treed the coon up a big red oak. Fires 
were soon kindled around in a circle about 
fifty yards from the root of the tree, and then 
one of the little negroes, who was as nimble as 
a squirrel, prepared to climb up and shake 
him out, but, after three or four unsuccessful 
attempts to reach the lower branches, he was 
forced to give up. 



156 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Next, the negro boys tried to call the coon 
down by rustling the dead leaves at the foot 
of the tree, at the same time making a peculiar 
guttural noise resembling the growl of the coon, 
but Master Cooney was not to be lured from 
his retreat. Then the axes were brought into 
play, and while Phil, Tom and I sat smoking 
our pipes, the negroes made the big chips 
fly, and soon the mighty oak came crashing 
to the ground. Away went the dogs, barking 
and yelping while the negroes yelled at the 
top of their voices; but in the noise and con- 
fusion, the coon made good his escape. His 
trail was soon found, however. The dogs 
were in full cry after him, and he was soon 
forced to take another tree. 

This tree was not so large as the first one, 
and Uncle George, taking a large pine torch, 
began to walk around it. At length he shouted 
that he had "shined his eyes." We all ran 
to see, and after scanning the tree closely in 
the direction indicated, I finally perceived 
what seemed to be two small balls of fire 
gleaming among the branches. These were 
the coon's eyes, and Uncle George, handing 
me the gun, told me to " fetch him out." 

Although I am somewhat distrustful of 
ancient firearms, I raised it and fired. Down 



A Coon Hunt in Texas 157 

came the coon almost on top of us. It was 
only slightly wounded with small shot, but 
the dogs instantly covered it, and then began 
one of the fiercest rough and tumble fights I 
have ever witnessed; dogs, negroes, and coon 
all rolled on the ground together. The coon, 
throwing himself on his back, used his sharp 
teeth and claws with such fearful dexterity 
that more than one dog was sent back out of 
reach bleeding and howling; but the coon was 
at length despatched and placed in a sack 
carried for the purpose, and we started for 
Uncle George's cabin. 

On the way, the fierce barking of the dogs 
announced fresh game. It proved to be a 
large opossum which was having a midnight 
feast on the luscious fruit of the persimmon. 
One of the little darkeys quickly climbed the 
tree, and by vigorously shaking the limb, suc- 
ceeded in dislodging the opossum, which came 
tumbling down, but there was no fight this 
time. On touching the ground the 'possum 
instantly feigned death, and all the shaking 
and worrying of the dogs failed to provoke 
the least resistance from him. 

While I was examining the opossum, the 
little negroes cut a pole about four feet long, 
then split one end of it. The opossum's tail 



158 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

was drawn through the split and curled around 
the pole which one of the negroes placed on 
his shoulder, leaving the 'possum dangling 
from the end, as a tramp carries his bundle. 

We reached the cabin without further adven- 
ture, and there, wrapped in our blankets, 
slept soundly till morning, then, bidding the 
coloured folks adieu, returned to town, well 
pleased with our hunt, and bearing the coon's 
skin as a trophy. 



MARINE MAMMALS 

III. Pinnipedia. The order of fin-footed mammals. 

Feet developed into paddles for swimming. 

Marine flesh-eaters, that subsist upon fish 

and mollusks; come ashore only at breeding 

season. 

Families: 

i . Sea-lion (including the i 'fur seal ") . 

2. Seal. 

3. Walrus. 

VIII. Cete. The order of whales. 

Carnivorous mammals of the sea, with hairless, 
fish-shaped bodies, and fish-like fins and tail, 
yet v/arm-blooded lung-breathers, that bear 
their young alive and suckle them. 
Families: 

1. Whalebone whale. 

2. Sperm whale. 

3. Dolphins and porpoises. 

IX. Sirenia. The order of sea-cows. 

Clumsy, fish-like animals, with front limbs 
expanded into fins; hind limbs wanting. 
They live upon coarse grass in river mouths 
and shallow bays. 
Families: 

1. Sea-cow, or manatee. 

2. Dugong. 



THE MAMMALS OF THE SEA 

IT IS not easy to become personally ac- 
quainted with the mammals whose homes 
are in the ocean depths, for they are large 
creatures, and it is impossible to exhibit them 
alive. Happily, the sea-lion is an exception, 
and occasionally a walrus, a sea-cow and a 
harbour seal may be seen in captivity, for a short 
time. But who has seen a whale alive? It 
is the animals that can live comfortably in 
fresh water that are found in zoological col- 
lections. 

In a book like this one, it is best, I think, 
to bring together in one chapter the three 
orders of seafaring mammals, though such a 
sequence is not based upon natural relation- 
ships. All are finned, fish-shaped animals, and 
for this outward similarity, they will always 
be classed together in the minds of people. 

The sea-lions, seals, and walruses form the 
first order; the whales, dolphins, and porpoises, 
the second; last, and least in importance, the 
sea-cows, an order nearly extinct. 

161 



1 62 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The California sea-lion's barking or cough- 
ing is heard at some distance from the rocky- 
walled pool provided for him. Over the 
rocks the huge creature climbs with the agility 
of a cat. He rolls about comfortably in the 
pool, stroking with his four fins, as much at 
home as a fish. Gliding out, he rears his huge 
form in the attitude of a lion, though his head 
is smaller, his neck slender, and he lacks the 
shaggy mane that makes a lion so noble-looking 
an animal. 

The front fins are flat paddles, the hind ones 
are webbed feet, prolonged into flippers that 
are turned forward when the animals travel 
on land. The body is covered with coarse 
hair, brown in summer, grayish and paler 
in winter, utterly without value as fur. The 
head is small, with slender snout and erect 
ears. 

The intelligence and gentleness of this species 
make its care a pleasure to the trainer. A 
group of sea-lions has been trained to give a 
performance together that would do credit 
to human acrobats. One of them balances a 
large wooden ball on the end of his nose. 
You will notice that a sea-lion in a tank is 
always playing with a ball, or other object, of 
which it seems never to tire. 



The Mammals of the Sea 163 

The "seal rocks" outside of Golden Gate 
Park in San Francisco, and similar groups near 
the Santa Catalina Island and other stations 
up and down the West Coast, are places where 
one sees these interesting sea mammals at home, 
sunning themselves at leisure, slipping into 
the sea when hungry, to find a meal of squids 
and devil-fishes, which are destructive to the 
food fishes. Rarely will the sea-lions eat fish, 
when they choose their own food. They take 
to shellfish, most forms of which are not used 
as human food. 

So sea-lions are friends of the fisherman. 
Because men are not sure, they assume that 
these animals live on fish. They have been 
slaughtered without just cause all up and down 
the coast. Now the killing has been checked 
through the efforts of men who know the truth. 

The life story of sea-lions is best known 
through studies of the "fur seal," which is one 
of them, and not a true seal. The killing of 
these fur-bearing animals has made familiar 
the beautiful and costly fur that keeps them 
warm during the months they spend in the 
cold waters of the North Pacific. 

In May the old bulls begin to land on the 
two Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, on which 
their "rookeries" have been established ever 



164 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

since the first fur-hunter found them, some 
fifty years ago and put this fur on the market; 
The biggest seal chooses the best place and 
fights off all who challenge his rights to the 
location and to the harem of females of all 
ages with which he surrounds himself. A con- 
stant series of quarrels occur between rivals, 
who steal each other's mates, when possible. 
The females devote their time more profitably 
to the care of their young, which are born about 
the time of the landing. For the proper feed- 
ing of her offspring the mother is soon obliged 
to makes excursions to sea. As the season 
advances she may be gone a week or more. 
She may encounter a fishing boat, and be shot 
or speared for her coat. In this case, the 
death of her young one from starvation is the 
tragic result of her own death. This is the 
wicked waste of "pelagic sealing,'' the killing 
of seals out at sea, a business now forbidden 
by joint treaties of several countries interested. 
The agreement was a long time coming, however, 
and the seal population of the two islands 
where all of this species breed dropped from 
over 3,000,000 in 1873 to 200,000 in 1903. 
Since then the number has been greatly re- 
duced, for it is difficult to make countries, as 
well as men, see that it is wrong to kill any 



The Mammals of the Sea 165 

creature on the high seas, which belong to no 
particular country. 

The killing of young males on the islands 
is legal, under the prescribed rules, and it is 
from these that the choicest furs come. Re- 
moving the "bachelors" makes a more peaceable 
community, which is desirable. 

Late in summer the young ones are taught 
to take sea excursions in search of solid food, 
and in November the islands are deserted. 
The seals have gone to sea. They drift south- 
ward and scatter, taking a general southeasterly 
course. In January they are opposite the 
shores of Southern California, and their di- 
rection changes. They move north in a course 
parallel with the coast, but far out, and swing 
to the northwest, as the Alaskan peninsula 
is skirted. This brings them home to the 
islands in spring, as is the custom of their race. 
Probably they will keep it up as long as a 
handful of the great herd is left. Perhaps 
their numbers will be allowed to increase. 
Let us hope so. 

The true seals are stupid, clumsy creatures, 
with short necks, square, hairy front flippers, 
in which the toes end in claws. The hind flip- 
per is useful only for swimming, as it cannot be 
turned forward. There is no external ear. 



1 66 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The fur is close, short, and stiff — of no com- 
mercial value. The skins, however, make ex- 
cellent leather. 

The ringed seals of the northern ice floes are 
at the mercy of the polar bears and the Es- 
quimaux. The harbour seal that comes into 
bays and rivers along the New England coast, 
sometimes even to New Jersey, and far north, 
is a shore-loving, inoffensive creature, that 
is killed by fishermen and gunners, with little 
just cause, and by sharks and swordfish, which 
are as rabid as the polar bears in pursuit. 
The hooded seal, a large Atlantic species, 
wears an inflated bag of rubbery skin on the 
nose. The ribbon seal wears a wide circling 
band of white around the head and above the 
flippers, crossing under the body. 

Walruses are very large, clumsy, finned 
creatures, with only the scantiest crop of hair 
on the thick, much crumpled skin, and two huge 
tusks, which are the overgrown eye-teeth of 
the upper jaw. By these tusks the walrus 
climbs on to the ice floes and up the rocky, 
ice-bound shores of northern seas. With them 
he combs the sea bottom, and digs up clams, 
sea anemones, starfish, and oysters. He eats 
sea weeds and grasses that grow in the shallows. 
The young are protected from the attacks of 




The California sea-lion can turn his hind flippers forward and 
walk easily on land 




The harbor seal loves company, is gentle and easily tamed, 
fur has no value, and there is no excuse for shooting it 



Its 



r£2 



The Mammals of the Sea 167 

polar bears and Esquimaux. It is said that 
little ones, which are born ashore, and tended 
there for weeks by the old ones, are seized 
when danger threatens them, and carried, each 
in the mouth of the mother, who dives into 
the sea and swims under water to safety. 

Larger than the Atlantic species is the giant 
Pacific walrus, whose ugliness increases with its 
size. 

A little walrus in the New York Zoo is as 
big as a collie dog, and apparently well and 
happy in 191 1. Feeding time attracts a crowd 
about its pool to see it eat the fish that are its 
fare. The keeper says it is an affectionate 
little beast, and nobody has proof to the con- 
trary, though it is not very demonstrative. The 
young one brought by Mr. Peary in 1902 lived 
but a short time. Nobody has seen a full- 
grown specimen, except on the rocky shore or 
on an ice floe in the Northern seas, or swim- 
ming, or floating, bolt upright in the water, 
fast asleep! 

The ivory of his tusks and his tough hide 
for leather both tempt the hunter to go after 
the walrus. The Esquimaux depend upon 
this animal for food, fuel, lights, dog harness, 
and many other necessities of life. Now the 
herds are so reduced that the Government has 



1 68 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

to help support the starving communities 
thus cheated out of their living. 

The tales of whale-fishing that old men still 
tell, sitting outside their doors in the coast 
towns of New England, are as thrilling as any 
ever written or told of life on shipboard. The 
business has changed and lost much of its 
picturesqueness since these men took their 
share in the dangerous work. Whales are not 
so abundant, either. 

It is best to get some stories of whalers that 
put out from Province town or Gloucester in 
the early days when whales came near enough 
shore to be captured by crews that went out in 
small boats. These stories will tell the method 
of attack, the actions of the harpooned whale, 
the tactics of the men in the perilous and un- 
certain game they are playing, their ways of 
dividing the prize, the removal of the baleen 
and blubber, and the uses to which these com- 
mercial products were put. 

The cachelot, or sperm whale, had no baleen, 
but it furnished sperm oil and the glove per- 
fume known as ambergris, besides quantities 
of blubber, for this is the giant Atlantic whale, 
now almost unknown. 

The dolphins and porpoises are little cousins 
of the whales. We see them sporting in com- 



The Mammals of the Sea 169 

panies, following vessels at sea, and feeding 
on the schools of mackerel and herring. The 
back fin gives them another fish-like character 
not shared by the whales. 

The unicorn of the Northern sea is the 
narwhal, which wears as a weapon, a twisted 
tusk that extends out from the head five or 
six feet. It is one of the pair of teeth (all the 
animal has !) which takes this central position, 
while the mate remains in the skull, unde- 
veloped. The narwhal uses this tusk while he 
lives, and the Esquimaux make their weapons 
and tools of the ivory afterward. 



CHIROPTERA 

The order of wing-handed mammals. 

Animals with long fingers webbed to form wings. 
Diet, insects or fruit. The bats. 



THE BATS 

STRANGE, weird little mammals, fantastic in 
shapes, grotesque in features, winged by 
the webbing of the extraordinary fore-limbs. 
Such are the bats. Few people have ever 
seen a bat. Few know more than the fact 
that they fly by night, and are dreaded by 
women because they get tangled in their hair, 
and carry bedbugs into houses. The last 
two statements have very little foundation 
in the way of actual evidence. And bats 
are creatures of the dawn and twilight, not of 
the night. 

Witchcraft has always had bats assigned 
to it, for their weirdness and the lack of 
knowledge as to their habits made them 
fit into the stories of people and creatures 
in league with the powers of evil. Super- 
stitious people have always been suspicious of 
creatures and things they couldn't under- 
stand. 

The manager of a summer hotel in the Cats- 
kills said to a scientific man, quite confiden- 
173 



174 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

tially: "The worst thing we have to contend 
with here is the bats. They are apt to get 
into the rooms, and when a woman sees one 
she begins to scream. They fly about the 
lights outside, and the ladies dare not sit on 
the verandas. One actually flew into the ball- 
room, and the guests fled in a panic. They 
say that bats like to settle on a lady's head 
and get all tangled up in her long hair. You 
can't free them without cutting off the hair, 
and so the sight of a bat always stampedes 
the ladies and some of them are sure to 
leave. This hurts the reputation of the 
house. Do you know any way to exterminate 
bats?" 

The listener asked if ever a bat had got 
into any one's hair yet. No. Not that he 
ever heard of. He had been there five seasons. 
But it was daily expected, this awful calamity! 
It exists in the minds of ignorant and foolish 
people, too stupid to go to a library and read 
what is known about the habits of bats. A 
placard posted on the bulletin board would 
have done much to quiet the apprehensions 
of timid folk. It might even have been so 
interestingly written that bat study would 
become popular as an evening amusement for 
people tired of other topics. This suggestion 



The Bats 175 

of the scientist was probably not followed, 
however. 

It is because of the wonderfully specialized 
characters of bats that they are so generally 
distributed over the world, and civilization 
does not exterminate them, as it does many 
wild animals. The little brown bat is found 
all over this country, with the exception of 
the polar and tropical regions. Few animals 
are so widely distributed. 

The monstrous development of the front 
limbs is the greatest marvel of the bat's struc- 
ture. Hold one up to the light, and count the 
bones and joints. Review the physiology 
chapter that describes the human arm, and 
compare it with the arm of the creature before 
you. How long would your fingers be if 
lengthened as the bat's are, to furnish you a 
webbed wing like his? What would be the 
spread of your w T ings? How r amazing would 
be your advantage, with such equipment, 
over Darius Green and all the experimenters 
that followed him, in the matter of flying! 
Take a look at the rubbery web. Stretch 
a piece taut, and examine it under a magni- 
fying glass, if convenient. The bat complains, 
and makes faces at you, but his protests 
may be ignored for a few minutes, and his 



176 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

patience rewarded by giving him his free- 
dom. 

The webbed wings of bats are a double 
fold of skin, liberally supplied with nerves of 
touch that end in very small papillae on 
both surfaces. These nerve-ends give the fly- 
ing creatures the power of avoiding collision 
with objects, even when sight and hearing 
are destroyed. They go in and out between 
wires without striking them, and escape, in- 
jury where birds are often killed. 

Enough is now known about bats to clear 
them of most of the evil that has been spoken 
against them. A few have been proved the 
enemies of men and of their domestic animals. 
True vampires suck blood; they puncture the 
shoulders of horses and cattle, or the noses 
of sleeping persons, and, by a strong suction, 
cause the blood to flow freely through a small 
wound, which heals without any swelling or 
pain. The Brazilian harlequin bats are the only 
blood-sucking tribe. Nobody dies of the injury. 

Fruit-eating bats, also tropical kinds of con- 
siderable size, are called "flying-foxes," be- 
cause their furry heads, with pointed ears and 
muzzles, are extremely foxy in expression as 
well as form. They fly by day, and do damage 
by devouring fruits on the trees. Some kinds 



The Bats 177 

measure forty inches across the spread wings — 
creatures of quite terrible aspect to the visitor 
in the East Indies and Australia. They hang, 
head downward, in trees, hundreds together, 
squeaking, with shrill voices, and crowding each 
other, crawling awkwardly about, or making 
swift flights to choose better locations, and 
going off like a great cloud when disturbed. 

Nature seems to have been in a prankish 
mood when she invented the queer leaf-like 
appendages that decorate the noses of a whole 
family of bats. But these useful little touch 
organs are not so amazing to see as the 
crumpled folds the West Indian leaf -nose wears 
in addition to the family peculiarity. Ears and 
chin form a set of frills, like the crowded petals 
of a double flower. The brightly coloured and 
velvety countenance reminds the observer of 
a double pansy. Fancy a flower twinkling 
a pair of wickedly bright little eyes, and 
showing its teeth in a fierce and fearful grimace, 
expressive of fright at being looked at! 

The bonneted bat "looks like a rat in a poke 
bonnet," so huge are its ears, and turned like 
two funnels directly forward over the sharp 
snout and the retreating chin. The hammer- 
headed bat has a head shaped like that of a 
moose. The muzzle is enlarged and much 



178 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

folded at the tip, and I fancy that the donkey 
upon which Queen Titania spent her caresses 
in " Midsummer Night's Dream," looked like 
this bland creature. He is one of nature's 
jokes, and a big one, too, for his wings spread 
over two feet. He is one of the African fruit- 
eating species, quite unlike the small, modest 
species that live in America. 

Coming back home from a look at the gro- 
tesque bats of the Amazon and the Far East, 
we have bat neighbours that are small in size 
and most harmless in habits — friends, indeed, 
working for our best interests, even when we 
consider them at best, disgusting creatures. 
Let us put away the notions of other days, 
and be open-minded. 

The little brown bat we may find hanging, 
head downward, supported by a single weak 
claw, behind a window shade in a little-used 
room. It squeaks and makes up a funny 
grimace, showing its teeth, and probably ends 
in a hiss that warns us to let it alone. All 
this means only that day is its sleepy time, and 
it wishes to be alone. Take it from its perch 
and it will become sufficiently aroused to fly 
out of the window, unless it is restrained. 
Keep it long enough to see how it is made. 

Notice how warm is the body of the little 



The Bats 179 

fellow, under the short, thick brown fur, how 
especially hot the naked, rubbery membrane 
of the wings. How small and weak are the 
hind limbs; how large the fore limbs! No 
match for this in the animal kingdom. See 
how the tail is webbed in with the hind legs 
in a continuous sheet with the two wings. 
The tail extended makes of this web a para- 
chute and a balancer in flight. The tail 
brought under the body forms a pouch in which 
the baby bats can ride. The little hooks 
that end the fingers and toes are the handiest 
things to catch and hold by. Notice the promi- 
nent thumb hooks. See what large ears it 
has, and the leaf-like lobe that stands up 
in the centre of each one. The eyes are like 
black beads, the nose blunt, the teeth sharp- 
pointed, to crack the shells of beetles and 
other insects that wear armour. The eye- 
teeth are prominent in all bats. 

The early evening brings this brown bat 
forth, almost before the evening star appears, 
and we see it dodging and wheeling, as if it 
had not its bearings, and was disconcerted 
about something. But this is its method of 
hunting insects that fly. It keeps it up for an 
hour or two; then, satisfied, goes to sleep, 
hanging " wrong side up." 



180 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

It is the way of bats to drink before they 
eat. All day they hang asleep. The fading 
light beckons them to come out, and out they 
go, not in a sociable company, but each for 
himself. First to the water for a long, refresh- 
ing drink. Then after their flying, fluttering 
prey with all their might. Birds of the twilight 
are after the same insects, and if there is an 
electric light to attract the "bugs," so much 
better hunting for whip-poor-wills, night 
hawks, and bats, and the best chance for us 
to see the sport, and identify the hunters 
engaged in it. 

Two little bats are born in midsummer, and 
as there is no nest, the mother may carry them 
attached firmly to the two milk ducts, and 
clinging to her fur, on the flights at dusk and 
dawn. Rats and mice are enemies of little 
bats, which squall when they tumble off the 
perch. But when their eyes are open and they 
get a bit independent, they can be trusted to 
hang, silent and safe, on the twig their mother 
assigns them, and she will find them there on 
her return. 

Mosquitoes are the pests that we are espec- 
ially glad to be rid of. Twice a day the bat 
population turns out to destroy our enemies 
for us, but primarily for themselves. They 



The Bah 181 

do not know what a friendly office they per- 
form for mosquito-bitten creatures of higher 
rank than they. Humans can defend them- 
selves, but think of the suffering cattle and 
horses that cannot escape the swarms, renewed 
after every rain, brought in on every breeze. 

Never, never kill a bat, any more than 
you w r ould your dearest friend! If you see a 
bat captured and in danger, because the 
person who has it does not know its ways of 
making a living, tell him about it, and use 
your utmost pow r ers of persuasion to buy the 
bat's liberty. 



A BAT WHICH HAD A GRIEVANCE 

SITTING secure in a crotch of the chestnut 
tree of my choice, beating the chestnuts 
from the half-open burs with a birch pole, and 
listening to their patter on the dry leaves far 
beneath, I was conscious, for a time, of a little 
gritting squeak, a squeak that sounded much 
like a small unoiled joint. It might have been 
two tree limbs rubbing together, only that it 
was too personal. Creaking limbs are always 
mournful in tone; this squeak was full of im- 
potent, nervous rage. It was difficult to locate 
exactly, and I had thinned out the chestnuts 
pretty well, and was about to climb down before 
I discovered what it was that made the noise. 
Hanging head down from a twig that protruded 
from the under side of a large limb was a great 
bat, swinging from one hind toe. His furry gray 
body was loosely wrapped in his wings, that 
looked like wrinkled folds of dark sheet-rubber. 
"His ugly little face was all screwed up with 
rage, and his sputtering squeaks were a ludi- 
crous exposition of impotent fury. Every 

182 



A Bat Which Had a Grievance 183 

blow of my pole on the tree had jarred him. 
In his darkness of our daytime he could not 
see what it was that troubled him, nor could he 
venture to fly away from it, lest he rush into 
worse danger. So he simply hung on and pro- 
tested in all the voice and vocabulary that he 
had, and when I plucked him carefully by that 
hind claw, wrapped him in a handkerchief 
and stowed him in the pocket of my coat, he 
continued to mutter bat-profanity. 

"The crimson of the sunset lighted the path 
home with a radiance that dulled the fire of 
the sumachs to the red of dying embers, and 
the purple wood grass caught and held these 
fires in its shadow until I reached my own door. 
Here I bethought me of the bat in my pocket, 
too long enshrouded for his comfort, perhaps. 
I unknotted the handkerchief, planning to slip 
him into an empty squirrel cage for a day's 
observation before I set him free. But the 
sun was now below the horizon and the bat 
could see as well as I could. Seemingly he 
could see quicker. Before I could put fingers 
on him he slipped from the folds of the handker- 
chief, dove into the air, and with swift, sculling 
wings mounted above the tree tops, and was 
away like the wind." — Winthrop Packard, 
in Forest and Stream. 



GLIRES, OR RODENTIA 



The order of gnawing mammals. 

Chiefly small, land animals, with strong, chisel- 
like incisor teeth in front. Feet with clawed 
or nailed digits. Diet vegetable chiefly. 
Families: 
i. Squirrel. 

2. Beaver. 

3. Mouse and rat. 

4. Pocket-gopher. 

5. Porcupine. 

6. Hare and rabbit. 



THE SQUIRREL FAMILY 
OUR AMERICAN SQUIRRELS 

THE squirrel family has three branches: 
(i) the true squirrels; (2) the marmots; (3) 
the flying squirrels. True squirrels include, 
(a) tree squirrels, (b) rock squirrels, (c) 
ground squirrels. They live in three different 
zones; the tree tops, the rocks and under 
ground. The gray squirrel, the red ones, 
the fox squirrels all are in the group a. Chip- 
munks are the rock-dwellers, group b. Ground 
squirrels are prairie and desert species, 
which like the open country, and take refuge 
in burrows under ground. Spermophile, or 
" seed-lover," is the scientist's name for these 
burrowing species, which the farmer dis- 
likes because they eat grain which he has 
sown. 

The marmots are big, heavy-bodied, burrow- 
ing creatures, slower than the tree squirrels. 
The woodchuck and prairie " dog " are marmots. 

The flying squirrels form a group of three 
187 



1 88 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

species with no other name than the one which 
describes the wonderful mode of progress 
they use. 

The peculiar gnawing teeth, two above and 
two below, in the front of the jaws of squirrels 
rank them with many others in the order of 
the rodents, or gnawing animals. 

The shooting of squirrels to eat is a habit 
that every American boy or man should be 
ashamed of if ever he was guilty of it. The 
flesh has a rank taste, and there is little of it. 
Doctor Hornaday says: " Americans are the 
only white men on earth that eat squirrels. 
An Englishman would as readily eat a rat!" 
I believe that no boy, when he knows these 
facts, will stoop to shoot squirrels for a pie. 
His English cousins are true sportsmen, and 
their example is better followed than that of 
some pot-hunting loafer, who shoots whatever 
comes his way. 

The best reason for not shooting the tree 
squirrels is that they are quite as beautiful and 
cheerful as the song birds in the tree tops. 
We need them to enliven the groves in summer 
and winter. Their lives are just as interesting 
as those of the nesting birds. They are most 
interesting when they are harvesting their 
nuts and seeds for winter and getting ready for 



Our American Squirrels 189 

their long sleep. Indeed, we must know squir- 
rels better, and when we do, we will join with 
others of their defenders and make laws to 
prevent people from shooting them. The 
only " black sheep" in the family is the red 
squirrel. 



THE RED SQUIRREL 

THE smallest of our Northern tree squirrels, 
a thin-legged, lively little chap, with red- 
dish-brown back and white under parts is a 
familiar neighbour whose name is well known. 
" Chickaree" is a nickname which imitates his 
scolding, chattering conversation. This language 
flows unceasingly, as he goes about his small 
affairs. What changes he would make in the 
arrangement of things, if he had his own way! 
As he must make the best of things as they are, 
he utters his protests, in asuccession of "churrs," 
introduced by a whining sound and interspersed 
by coughing fits. Plainly, he expostulates 
with you if you come near him; sometimes he 
sits on a limb and runs through all the changes 
in his limited vocabulary, sings all the songs 
he knows, and then, de capo, does them again. 
Without a doubt, the red squirrels have high- 
ways through the tree tops; they know where 
the long leaps are from one tree to another, 
which ones are safe, and which dangerous. 
When the heavier-bodied marten is after a 

190 



The Red Squirrel 191 

squirrel, he will catch his victim, sure, unless 
by a miscalculation he fails to get across the 
gulf between two trees. The squirrel is so 
light it can run out to the ends of twigs before 
springing off. The marten, as big as a cat, 
must spring from a point farther back, before 
his weight bears the twig down. 

It serves the red squirrel right to be the 
victim of the bloodthirsty marten, for there 
isn't a more bloodthirsty creature alive than 
this same little rascal. If you have a nest of 
red squirrels growing up in some deserted wood- 
pecker's hole in a dead stump, you must expect 
that the mother knows where all the birds' 
nests are. Her earliest visits are the most 
merciful. She eats the eggs. But coming 
later, she takes the young birds. I have heard 
of undisturbed nests of robins and other birds 
in the same grove with red squirrels, but these 
are exceptions. You can't trust such company, 
any more than you can expect a cat to bring 
up a family of orphaned mice. 

It is well for any animal to be able to change 
its habits of life. Red squirrels take to the 
ground when forests are removed. Gray and 
fox squirrels keep to the woods, and for this 
reason they are now no longer known in regions 
where once they were abundant. The confi- 



192 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

dent red squirrel adapts himself to the new 
conditions. He even interferes with the gray 
squirrels in wooded parks. The Bronx Zoo 
is an illustration. The red squirrels became so 
arrogant that Doctor Hornaday had many of 
them shot. They are now fewer, and better 
behaved. 

Red squirrels have no cheek pouches. They 
carry nuts in their mouths, and store their 
hoards in hollows under tree roots and in 
deserted nests of sapsuckers, close to their own 
winter quarters. They work by day, cutting 
off the green cones of pines and other ever- 
greens, and later digging out and stowing away 
the rich, though small, nutlets, before they 
escape naturally from between the gaping 
cone scales and fly away. Perhaps it is a feeling 
that chestnuts might escape in the same way 
that sends the squirrels out on the twigs to cut 
off the unopened burs, and get bloody noses 
from the wicked spines, when a few days of 
waiting would drop the shelled nuts down. 
When you boys go to the trees in September, 
and look longingly up at the close, green balls, 
you will find the absurd little nut-gatherers 
swinging on the twigs, engaged in their hard 
and dangerous task, possessed by a feverish 
desire to accumulate winter provisions. 



The Red Squirrel 193 

After all, it is rather absurd, for the red 
squirrel does not stay in and eat his hard-earned 
nuts in winter. He is at home only at the coldest 
times. The moment the thermometer rises 
a few degrees, out he comes, and scrambles 
about hunting for stray nuts and dried fruits 
left on the branches, just as if his life de- 
pended upon these chance pickups. Then 
back to his snug nest when night shuts down, 
or when a cold snap comes. 

Mushrooms of certain fleshy kinds, especially 
Russulas, are eaten by red squirrels in season, 
and gathered by them, and tucked away in tree 
crotches to dry for winter use. Farmers' 
corn cribs and granaries are robbed and orchard 
trees are climbed for the left-over apples and 
their seeds, of which squirrels are fond. Vege- 
tarians they seem by nature. I believe the 
bloodthirsty squirrels are mothers of large 
families, urged on by hunger, and the need of 
flesh to build flesh. If this is true, much can 
be forgiven. 

The red squirrel's tail is rather a sparse 
wisp compared with that of the gray species. 
But it is a useful little tail, nevertheless, and 
it serves as a parachute when its owner makes 
one of its perilous flying leaps, breaking the 
force of a hard fall. A delicate organ, the 



194 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

skin easily strips off of the pitifully bare chain 
of bones, if the tail is caught. The result of 
losing his plume is the dropping off of the bony 
skeleton. The crippled squirrel is never as 
able to escape his enemies as is one with a tail. 
So he early fails in life's struggle. It is absurd 
to say that a new tail replaces the damaged 
one. Reproduction of lost parts belongs to 
animals much lower than squirrels in the scale 
of life. 

The red squirrel family consists of the two 
parents and five or six young ones. They are 
born deaf, blind and naked, as helpless little 
creatures as you can imagine. The nest may be 
in the crotch of a pine tree, or in a hollow stub, 
once inhabited by one of the woodpecker tribe. 
The mother makes the home snug and warm, 
lining the framework of sticks with shredded 
bark and moss and dead leaves. Here she 
suckles her helpless baby squirrels until they 
are able to eat solid food, and to follow her on 
short excursions through the tree tops. No 
doubt she teaches them the beaten paths, and 
the dangers that they will have to meet, the 
meaning of the sounds they hear, and the sights 
they see. She holds a frightened youngster 
by her mouth, her teeth closing on the skin of 
the belly, the legs and tail of the baby coiled 



The Red Squirrel 195 

close around her neck. This is the way she 
carries them to safety. If the nest is discovered 
and looked into by human neighbours, the 
mother squirrel finds a safer place for her family, 
and abandons the original nest. 

Careful as she is to feed and protect her 
young, the red squirrel mother has no idea of 
good housekeeping. The nest becomes filled 
up with filth and vermin, apparently without 
her noticing why the family is uncomfortable. 
The young ones which survive these unsani- 
tary conditions are more than half-grown by 
their first birthday. It is believed that they 
live six years or more. There is a constant 
danger of capture by martens, weasels, owls, 
hawks, and cats. Other red squirrels are ene- 
mies, too, if their ground is trespassed upon. 
Each squirrel family has rather narrow limits 
to its range, and it may not go outside set 
bounds without trouble from its chickaree 
neighbours, who defend their food trees 
with spirit. 



THE GRAY SQUIRREL 

THE gray squirrel, whose thick fur and 
bushy tail of reddish-gray give him his 
name, is the friendly, delightful companion which 
meets us at the entrance to the park, and follows 
us about, most politely inquiring if we chance 
to have a few peanuts in our pockets. Usually 
we have, and then we settle down on a bench, 
and enjoy the little fellow's antics, always new, 
though we have seen them a hundred times. 

See him rise to a standing position, his hands 
folded on his breast — an irresistibly polite, 
inquiring attitude. Before we can fish in a 
side pocket his bright eyes catch the movement, 
he drops on all-fours and comes toward us in 
graceful leaping steps over the grass, the bushy, 
undulating tail waving like a plume, and ex- 
pressing the satisfaction he feels. If you hesi- 
tate he may climb up to your shoulder or in- 
vestigate one pocket after another. Regular 
visitors to the park, well known to the squirrels, 
are thus familiarly treated. It is a mutual 
benefit association. The nuts are there, but 

196 



The Gray Squirrel 197 

the short hunt for them and the joy when they 
are found, supply an exciting little game that 
the two play together. 

It is a pity that country children do not 
all realize that gray squirrels in the woods are 
easily tamed as soon as they understand that 
boys and girls wish to make friends with them. 
Scatter a few nuts about and they will come 
closer and closer to the house, to get this food. 
Set a post so that it projects two feet above 
the ground, and scatter nuts around this post, 
then watch the first squirrel which comes, as he 
perches on the post to eat it. It is a favourite 
perch, and a very great help when you are well 
enough acquainted to begin to photograph 
"Bunnie." This post is easy to focus upon 
and the alert little subject does not have 
room up there to shift his position and spoil a 
film for you. 

When you are walking through the woods 
or about the home pasture no more delightful 
companion can be imagined than a tame gray 
squirrel. We ought to love the plump little 
fellows because they do no harm to any one, 
and their prettiness and graceful ways make 
them as desirable as birds in our tree tops. 

The gray and fox squirrels in city parks will 
sit up and eat one or two of the nuts that visitors 



198 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

offer them, then hide the others, here and there 
under the leaves. Later they find some of 
these " surprise packages, " guided to them, pos- 
sibly by a keen scent, possibly by a wonderful 
sixth sense of locality which we stupid mortals 
cannot comprehend. The truth is that many 
of these surprise nuts are never found by 
squirrels, but are left to grow. No doubt in the 
forests a great deal of nut-planting is done by 
squirrels. Nut trees are intermingled with 
trees whose seeds are carried by the wind. 
Heavy nuts can roll down hill, but they can't 
roll very far on uneven ground. Watch the 
doings of squirrels about the time of the nut 
harvest. Then go through the woods and no- 
tice how the nut trees are scattered. The 
squirrels think they are doing a selfish thing 
by hiding nuts. The truth is they are helping 
the helpless tree to scatter its children far 
and wide. 



AN INCIDENT OF HARVEST TIME 

IN our open pasture stands a tall hickory, 
clad in the golden tone of autumn foliage, 
dripping gray nuts and blackened husks upon 
the pasture grass beneath it. Taking his pick 
among these was a splendid great gray squirrel, 
and as I approached, instead of bounding away 
across the open to the thick woods where he 
would have been safe, he sprang to the trunk, 
and hiding behind it eyed me over the lowest 
limb. There was something of roguish de- 
fiance in his look, and I accepted the challenge. 
I dropped my coat on the grass and swung into 
the tree, toward the squirrel, who promptly 
scampered up the trunk fifteen feet or so, 
poked his head over another limb, and un- 
deniably winked at me. 

"The gray squirrel is clever, but even on his 
own tree his reasoning did not go very far. 
I was steadily driving him to the top, where 
he would be cornered, but he did not run out on 
a limb, drop to a lower one, then scramble down 
the tree and away as he might easily have done. 

IQ9 



200 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

He went straight on toward the top, and I 
after him. 

"Hickory is tough, and even its small limbs 
will hold much weight. I could go as high as 
the squirrel could. On the topmost bough he 
poised. I was within arm's reach. A gray 
squirrel has long, keen teeth, and knows well 
how to use them in self-defence, yet you may 
grasp one safely, if you will do it right. Take 
him with the full hand from behind, with the 
thumb and finger around his neck and meeting 
below his jaw. Thus you may hold him se- 
curely, uninjured, and be free from harm your- 
self. I have often pulled full-grown squirrels 
from the nest in this way. 

"But before my hand reached him this 
squirrel had launched himself into the air, 
with a bound that carried him in his flight 
clear of all limbs. It was forty feet to the 
drought-hardened pasture turf, and immediately 
I keenly regretted my frolic. A fall from that 
height, I thought, could but end in the death, 
or injury, of my friend. I looked to see him 
go to his finish, but he did nothing of the kind. 
Instead, he spread his legs wide, stiffened his 
tail, and fairly seemed to flatten himself as he 
went down, scaling to the ground instead of 
falling inertly, and though he struck with a 



An Incident of Harvest Time 201 

considerable thud, he was up and scampering 
for the wood immediately. The squirrel had 
won, though I can but think it was a foolhardy 
trick, and that he would have' done much better 
to slip down from tip to tip of the hickory 
limbs, and circumvent me by circumnavigating 
me." — Winthrop Packard, in the Boston 
Transcript. 



THE FRIENDLY CHIPMUNK 

THE first animal that greets me when I 
enter the Fordham gate at the Bronx Zoo 
is the chipmunk. He has no regard for fences, 
but ranges where he will. I catch a glimpse of 
his striped back, and beady black eye as he 
crouches under a rhododendron or laurel bush. 
I stop to speak to him, and he is in a panic. 
Up goes his tail and, like a streak of lightning, 
he disappears. A moment later he stands, like 
a statue, on the top of a bowlder, watching my 
movements. At a word he ducks out of sight. 
I fancy his home is under the stone pile, for he 
lets me come fairly close before he flirts his 
thin, flat plume of a tail at me, as if waving a 
defiant, " Catch me if you can. " 

There are several of him, skittering about 
under the bushes that cover the driveway 
slopes. I have not seen them with their cheek 
pouches distended, for it is too early for their 
harvest. But I do see them daintily nibbling 
the seeds of wild plants, and crumbs from the 
feeding places of the deer and other grain-eaters 



The Friendly Chipmunk 203 

But somebody asks how a chipmunk looks, 
how big he is, and where else he can be found 
in a wild, free state. 

Chipmunks are the lively little rock squirrels 
with five black stripes on their backs. The 
ground colour of the fur is gray or brown above, 
becoming much paler on the sides and white 
underneath. They are less than ten inches 
long, the tail half the length of the body. The 
eastern half of the United States is the home of 
this active little sprite. Broken ground in 
open sunny situations, tumbled-down buildings, 
brush or stones piled up, offer them the best 
refuges from enemies, and easy means of build- 
ing their shallow underground homes. 

These are very ingeniously made by digging 
at first a crooked tunnel that goes several feet 
below the surface. Then it bends to the hori- 
zontal for a few feet, and rises a foot or more, 
where an enlarged chamber, lined with grass, 
is the home nest. From this centre, a direct 
passage leads up to the surface, but this back 
door is very far from the front door. 

Nobody has seen a chipmunk carrying gravel 
or dirt in its cheek pouches. Yet in the build- 
ing of a complex system of winding burrows 
and spacious chambers, much dirt is to be 
carried. If it builds under a brush heap or a 



204 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

rock pile, there are plenty of places, out of 
sight, where the diggings can be deposited. 
Often the "dump" has to be in plain sight. 
But the chipmunk closes the door on this ex- 
posed end of its runway, after making another 
exit. There are always two ways of escape, 
as any boy will tell you who has tried to dig 
or drown out a chipmunk. 

The chipmunks come out thin and weak from 
their long sleep, for they are not fat, like the 
bears and woodchucks, when they go into 
winter quarters. But there are the stores they 
put away so carefully last October, seeds of a 
great variety of plants, berries, acorns, and the 
nuts of beech, hickory, and hazel — all clean and 
sound, and plenty for the months between win- 
ter and spring. They are in storage chambers, 
excavated alongside of the home nest or hi- 
bernating chamber, where the chipmunk family 
spends the winter. Here we can imagine 
them enjoying in comfort the days when storms 
and all discomforts are abroad, coming out for 
a drink of water from the dripping edge of a 
snowdrift, and gladly returning to their warm, 
dry retreat. 

One day a chipmunk pokes out his head, and 
feels the breath of the south wind. Then he 
knows that spring has come. He loses no time 



The Friendly Chipmunk 205 

in getting onto some high point of ground, a 
rock or stump suits his purpose, and there his 
little being overflows in a succession of chuck- 
chuck chuckles that are almost as sweet toned 
as the song of birds. He hasn't been singing 
long before all the neighbour chipmunks are 
out, each located on the best perch it can find, 
and all are singing together. There is pure 
happiness in these voices. We miss having 
this joyful salute to spring by living far from 
the open, rocky woods in which they live. 
The time to hear them is about the first week 
in April. Male and female both sing. 

Ernest Thompson Seton gives a bit of news 
he obtained from Doctor Charles Eastman, 
the well-known Indian writer : " In the wooded 
parts of Minnesota the coming forth of the 
chipmunks is a recognized event among the 
young Indians, and is celebrated by a special 
hunt. As soon as the bright warm days of 
spring arrive to make it possible, the boys go 
forth between sunrise and nine o'clock to some 
well-known chipmunk haunt, where one of 
their number who is adept in imitating the 
creature's notes, begins the chorus by a loud 
chirping. The chipmunks pop out of their 
holes on all sides. Sometimes as many as 
fifty of them will come together and hold a 



206 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

social reunion. Then, seeking some high perch, 
they join in the spring music with a concen- 
trated energy that seems to make them heedless 
of danger, and soon they fall in numbers to 
the blunt-headed arrows of the little Indians." 

I heard this cheerful little song from indi- 
vidual chipmunks much later. I fancy the stores 
of food hold out till the new crops are ready, 
and there is little to worry about. No wonder 
they sing. 

Mr. Seton timed one singer who kept up his 
chirping, without a false note, or a pause, for six 
minutes, the best time being one hundred and 
seventy "chucks" to the minute. The slow, regu- 
lar song beats two or three low musical "chucks" 
to the second. If any danger is suspected 
the notes instantly take a higher pitch, be- 
come shriller and quicker, and as the chipmunk 
bolts for safety, his song ends in a tremulous but 
defiant whistle, mingling fear with resentment. 

The little chipmunks, four or five in a litter, 
are born in May. They are very small and 
blind and pink at first; their mother stays 
with them in the nursery, which is deep under 
ground, until they are a month old or more. 
Then they begin to be seen with her, outside 
the burrow, and by midsummer they are al- 
most full grown. The mother is busy with a 



The Friendly Chipmunk 207 

second brood, and the big brothers and sisters 
look out for themselves. 

Through the summer and autumn the chip- 
munks are busy and happy laying up stores 
of food in pocket-like granaries underground. 
The long winter sleep is coming. After that 
comes the very early spring, with snow and ice 
covering the ground, and no signs of plant 
growth anywhere. 

On any autumn day we can see how the 
cheek pouches are used for carrying food to the 
storehouse. Suppose the day's work to be col- 
lecting acorns. The first one is tucked into 
one cheek, the next into the other. The third 
acorn goes in the first pouch and the fourth 
into the other. The hand-like front paws are 
used to pack the nuts into the cheek pouches, 
and it is hard work to get them rammed in 
tight. A pointed nut has its horn neatly 
gnawed off so that it will not be uncomfortable 
to carry. Finally the cheek pouches are crowded 
and the little nut-gatherer snatches up one 
acorn in its mouth and then is off for his store- 
house to unload. It is quite often necessary 
to go in edgewise, or try several times to get 
in, for the burrow is made to accommodate 
the chipmunk's body, and the pouches are 
often astonishingly distended. 



208 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The granaries are little pockets near the 
chamber where the family lives. Nothing 
but sound grain, nuts, and seeds are stored 
in these places. 

The worst damage the chipmunk does is 
to dig up corn as fast as the farmer can plant 
it. This is indeed a black mark for the hungry 
little creature, whose only excuse is that seeds 
of other kinds are scarce, and he cannot know 
that corn is worth more than seeds of butter- 
cup or the fat little bulbs of the squirrel-corn. 

Besides his regular diet of seeds and nuts, 
varied with berries and fruits, a foraging chip- 
munk likes an occasional taste of flesh. He 
will eat birds' eggs, and even young birds, and 
the dead bodies of animals, or birds, are at- 
tractive, though far from being fresh killed. 
Grasshoppers and fat grubs are relished. At 
times a chipmunk turns cannibal, and attacks a 
weak or wounded comrade. 

The weasel can enter the narrow doorway of 
the chipmunk and gliding through the tube- 
like passages, two inches in diameter, make 
its way swiftly to the chamber where the 
family lives. The stores of nuts do not interest 
this bloodthirsty visitor. The chipmunks can- 
not defend themselves. The weasel bites 
through its victim's skull and sucks its blood. 



The Friendly Chipmunk 209 

Chipmunks by dozens are killed by a single 
weasel on the war-path. He kills for the pleas- 
ure of it, after his hunger is satisfied. 

If the chipmunks have warning in time, they 
can keep the weasel out by plugging up with 
fresh earth the passages to the home den. But 
this is a temporary barricade. He is their 
hereditary foe, strong, relentless and cunning. 
Cats and foxes, hawks and snakes, all prey 
upon the chipmunks, but it is a fiercer fight 
that the weasels offer. 

Chipmunks are up at dawn, and go to bed 
when darkness comes on. They thus escape 
the clutches of owls. 



THE LITTLE CHIPMUNK OF THE 
NORTHWEST 

WE shall not see this little cousin of our 
Eastern chipmunk unless we go west and 
north from the Great Lakes. It is common in 
the woods of Canada, and I cannot help quoting, 
after Mr. Seton, this admirable picture of the 
looks and ways of this animal, written by Mr. 
Christy. 

" Without exception, the chipmunk is, in 
its form and movements, the very prettiest 
little animal I ever set eyes on. In it the fear 
of man seems to be entirely absent, it seems to 
run away merely for fun, but for all that, you 
would almost as easily catch a flash of lightning! 
It is incessantly upon the move, climbing about 
and over everything, as if exploring, and always 
carrying its long tail bolt upright in such a 
ridiculous manner that it becomes by far the 
most conspicuous part of the whole animal. 
You may see one of these tails, with a chip- 
munk attached to it, dodging round a piece 
of wood and eying you keenly, without the 

2IO 



The Little Chipmunk of the Northwest 211 

slightest appearance of fear, as if roguishly 
trying to tempt you to catch it. But try! 
In a moment, with a shrill, derisive, bird-like 
little whistle, the tail is gone — you hardly 
know where, till you see it again, a moment 
later, going through exactly the same antics 
along with several other tails. 

" Among the sandhills, a few miles from Car- 
berry, Manitoba, stands an old mill, which is 
usually deserted during the summer months. 
Around this mill the chipmunks swarm. Their 
holes run under its floor, and the creatures 
themselves are constantly to be seen scaling 
the walls and scampering over the roof. 

"One day when I was at the mill, I found that 
they had entered by a broken window, had 
licked clean some unwashed plates left on a 
bench, and had even taken some samples of 
the eatables left in the cupboard. I went on 
another day to the mill in order to try to catch 
some chipmunks alive. This I found a very 
easy thing to do with a figure-four box trap. 
The animals seemed perfectly unsuspecting. 
Whilst I was setting one of these, a chipmunk 
extracted my small store of bait from the paper 
in which it was wrapped, and consumed a 
considerable portion of it. As the little thief 
scampered off at my approach, with every 



212 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

appearance of laughing at me, he dropped the 
bread, and I secured it; but I had no sooner 
done this than, on looking around, I found that 
another chipmunk was sitting upright on the 
top of the trap I had just set, nibbling at my 
bait, which he held in his forepaws, and eying 
me sharply, but otherwise manifesting a cool- 
ness and deliberateness of procedure that 
completely staggered me. " 

No wonder that Enos Mills, who knows so 
well the little furry people of the Colorado 
mountains, has always loved "the merry 
chipmunk, one of the dearest of all small 
animals. " I quote his own words. 



THE STRIPED GROUND SQUIRRELS 

FORTY years ago farms were newer and not 
so numerous nor so close together in Illinois 
and Iow r a as now. The farmer looked with 
despair on the swarms of agile little rodents 
that came out of their winter quarters in the 
late spring and showed a keen interest in the 
corn crop that was just being planted. Indeed 
all the grain crops interested them. They 
gathered the seed before it had time to sprout, 
and put it away in granaries that had been 
excavated as branches of the underground 
burrows. Not only did the farm crops suffer 
at the time of planting, but when the time of 
harvest came. Whole heads of wheat and 
oats, as well as all the gleanings of the stubble 
fields, and between times, much grain taken 
from the shocks and stacks, counted up the 
heavy toll taken by the ground squirrels. 
There were so many of them, it was useless to 
try to rid the land of them. They were a 
nuisance that had to be allowed for and endured. 
Many a boy of that early day has vivid recol- 
213 



214 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

lections of the sport of snaring ground squirrels. 
The loop of twine was carefully laid over the 
mouth of the burrow, a hole in the ground about 
two inches across. Sometimes it opened on 
the level surface; sometimes a tuft of grass, 
or some dried weedstalk was placed where it 
would screen the opening. But the boy 
brushed aside all such rubbish, trained his line 
along the ground, and lay flat at the end of it, 
ten or twelve feet away, with eyes on the noose, 
ready to jerk it the moment the head of the 
creature came up. It required quick work to 
get him, but boys became quite expert. The 
curiosity to find out what the boy was up to 
made the squirrel bob up and down repeatedly, 
and gave the boy a chance to reset his snare 
after missing, and encouraged him to try again. 
If one sees a striped "gopher" (as it is in- 
correctly called) sitting erect at the door of its 
burrow, he may dash at the creature, and it 
will promptly bob out of sight. If he saunters 
by, missing the animal by about ten feet, and 
especially keeping his eyes off of it, the squirrel 
seems to think it has not been seen, and it 
does not budge from its statue-like, motion- 
less position. If now, the person turns slowly, 
Mr. Gopher decides, very likely, to take a little 
stroll. He leads the pursuer a slow chase, 



The Striped Ground Squirrels 215 

zigzagging in a crooked course, without paying 
any attention to holes, and apparently con- 
sidering it a kind of game. A quick motion 
on the part of the person soon decides him to 
take to the ground, and a twitter of squirrel 
laughter comes up from the shallow dungeon 
into which he knows his enemy cannot follow. 

Two kinds of burrows are made by the striped 
ground squirrels. One runs scarcely deeper than 
the grass roots, branches, runs a crooked course, 
and has a half a dozen or more doors to the 
upper world. Such a retreat is good to dive 
into to escape immediate danger. If the 
enemy can follow, there are plenty of avenues 
of escape. This may be used for games of 
hide-and-seek, too. 

The second kind of burrow is for the serious 
business of life. It lies at least six inches deep, 
and is made of winding passages just big 
enough for the rightful inhabitants to travel 
with comfort. There is the home nest, where 
the young are born and reared, a room less than 
a foot in diameter, but large enough, and made 
soft with a lining of dry grass. It has more 
than one entrance, and connects with several 
avenues leading to the surface. Some people 
say that there is a straight, deep well dug by 
these animals. Such wells have been traced, but 



216 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

nobody has proved that they are dug by squirrels. 
It is the general belief among naturalists that 
they get all the moisture they need in the grass 
and other succulent food they eat. If they do 
not need water, why should they dig wells? 

Deep ploughing tears up the burrows of the 
ground squirrels. They go from the fields to 
the wild hay lands that are not ploughed. When 
these come under cultivation, the rodents have 
to move on. So they take refuge in any untilled 
patches. Their numbers have become much re- 
duced. Hawks and cats and badgers are enemies 
of the ground squirrel; but the enemy that rout- 
ed him utterly is the ploughshare of the farmer. 

The striped ground squirrel of the Middle West 
is "the thirteen-lined spermophile" in books. Six 
bands of pale yellow streak its brown back length- 
wise, and the brown lines between are adorned 
with rows of yellow dots. This slim, strikingly 
marked rodent is found, in several varieties, 
over the middle third of the United States. 

The gray ground squirrel, called "Franklin's 
spermophile/' has a smaller range that centres 
in Iowa. This little fellow likes the covert of 
hedges or fence rows. It looks like a small 
form of the gray squirrel of Eastern woods, 
though a closer look shows the gray fur barred 
with fine cross lines of darker colour. 



THE WOODCHUCK AT HOME 

YOU will rarely find him away from home — 
this stupidly contented marmot, who looks 
out upon the world through little pin-head eyes, 
set wide apart, in a countenance quite void 
of intelligent expression. His mind is like 
his body, heavy and clumsy. His wit is as 
short as his legs. He may not deserve at all 
the reputation he has for being surly. He 
has one trait of narrow-minded people: he is 
not easily turned aside from a purpose that he 
sets out to accomplish. When he starts to dig 
a burrow in a new place it is about as well to 
let him proceed. Choke the hole up with 
sand or wedge it tight full of rocks, and you 
will find them removed the next morning 
and the hole deeper than on the day before. 
Again and again the patient beast will clear 
out your silly obstructions. And when you 
see him he will not show the least resentment, 
but regard you as a harmless, rather inter- 
esting feature of the landscape. His lack of 
distrust probably has its explanation in your 
217 



218 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

record for good behaviour. Woodchucks are 
not much in the way, and they eat such plants 
as clover and grasses, which the gardener and 
the farmer can spare without any trouble at 
all. If they attacked his cabbages or gnawed 
the young trees in the orchard, as the vege- 
tarian cotton-tails do, a war of extermination 
would be waged on them. We tolerate the 
woodchuck, but we secretly despise him as a 
thick-witted dunce. 

When the days of summer begin to shorten, 
the appetite of the " ground-hog" improves. 
Some memory of the coming of winter may 
stir within him. He feeds more constantly, 
and by the time the snow flies, he is in fine con- 
dition for the long sleep that begins in Novem- 
ber. A thick interlining of fat, under his coarse 
gray-brown fur, resists the cold, and the bur- 
row in which he lies is below the frost line, 
in a belt that has a temperate climate the year 
round. Snow clogs his burrow and earth 
under the snow. Peace wraps the woodchuck 
before he falls asleep. 

He is thinner when his long nap is done. A 
feeling of hunger makes him shake off the 
drowsiness, and burrow his way out. Is it 
always on February second, Candlemas Day? 
Tradition says that the woodchuck looks out 



The Woodchuck at Home 219 

first on this particular morning, and a great 
deal depends upon the weather. If the sun 
shines, he will see his shadow, and if he catches 
sight of that he will go back to his nest and sleep 
for six weeks longer. This means forty-two 
days more of winter, a sad thing for most of us 
to look forward to. We have had quite enough. 
But if the day is dull, the woodchuck has no 
shadow, and he stays out, knowing that spring 
is right over the edge of the hills, and her 
breath will soon melt the snowdrifts and bring 
the early flowers. 

"Ground-hog Day" is an old superstition 
that nobody believes in. But there are few 
people who do not think about it on its anni- 
versaries, and jokingly ask their neighbours if 
they think the spring is going to be late or early, 
according to the old saying. 

It is not sportsmanlike to shoot or trap 
woodchucks, for they are so inoffensive and so 
slow when outside their burrows that no skill 
is needed to get them. They walk into a trap, 
never seeming to suspect it. Their only hope 
when followed by a dog or a boy is to get into 
their burrows. Then they will turn and fight 
to the death if still pursued, but they never 
surrender. If the burrow is a new one and 
shallow, the dog that follows meets the wood- 



220 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

chuck at bay. He is angry, gnashing his teeth, 
and uttering a throbbing sound and a peculiar 
grating whistle that means danger. The dog 
that knows from sad experience the stubborn 
grip those gritting teeth can hold, once they 
are able to seize his nose, will not venture close. 
Now the boy pits his cunning against the wood- 
chuck's and thrusts a forked stick or a gnarled 
root into the hole. This the woodchuck grasps, 
and before it can let go it has been dragged 
out where the dog quickly kills it. 

Long before the snow is gone the woodchucks 
are abroad in spring. They can be tracked for 
miles; naturalists think they are hunting for new 
home sites. They like dry ridges best, and banks 
on the edges of woods, for a woodchuck will not 
be happy unless he can sit by his door in the 
sun, the picture of lazy comfort. When the 
location is decided upon, the digging is the 
important undertaking. The den not only 
shelters the pair of adults that build it, but the 
brood of young ones, born in a special room or 
nest, about the end of April. 

There may be eight in the litter. The usual 
number is four or five. They are very small 
and helpless, and are not able to see before they 
are a month old. But the mother brings them 
out into the sun by the end of June, and by 



The Woodchuck at Home 221 

September they are able to take care of them- 
selves. They grow rapidly, eating clover and 
other succulent plants near the home den, 
into which they scamper when a groan or grunt 
from the watchful mother warns them to get 
under cover. The father may help take care 
of the half-grown youngsters, but it is certain 
that during their helpless infancy he deserts 
the family, and the mother has the burden to 
carry all alone. 

The woodchuck's claws are wonderfully 
strong and useful tools. The burrowing into 
the hard subsoil, often of stiff, heavy clay, 
requires hard w^ork with proper implements, 
if good progress is to be made. Young ones 
dig burrows by the dozens near the home nest. 
They are never used. Is this work done to 
train the children? Woodchucks damage pas- 
tures, and cause many a broken leg for horses 
which stumble into these hidden pitfalls. But 
the serious work of the home nest comes after 
the winter ends and with the moving to new 
places. Even old woodchucks move and begin 
life over again in new quarters each spring. 

The funnel-shaped entrance soon narrows 
to a passage with a diameter of six inches. 
Sometimes the descent is steep, almost vertical; 
sometimes a gentle slope. The tunnel runs 



222 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

horizontally when below the frost line, turns, 
winds, branches into side tunnels, and each 
den has more than one doorway to the upper 
world. When digging toward the surface of 
the ground, the woodchuck carries the dirt 
off by some other route. When the digging 
begins at the surface, a pile of fine dirt is de- 
posited close by. 

The sudden disappearance of a woodchuck 
which has been chased into its hole is often 
mystifying to the boys and dogs that attempt 
to dig it out. The creature could not have 
got away without the sentinel seeing him. The 
fact is that he has backed into a side tunnel, 
and barricaded the entrance by building a close- 
packed wall of dirt in front of him that defies 
detection. 

A very delightful grandpa of three brown- 
eyed, curly-headed boys, who had never seen a 
woodchuck, I know, used to repeat, very 
rapidly, the following rhymes, to the joy of 
the youngsters, who by this time probably say 
them just as fast themselves. See if you can 
do the same thing, without a mistake. 

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, 
If a woodchuck could chuck wood ? 
A woodchuck would chuck 
All the wood he could chuck — 
If a woodchuck could chuck wood, 



MY PET WOODCHUCK 

I ONCE obtained possession of a little wood- 
chuck that had been brought home unin- 
jured by a dog. If I remember rightly, the origi- 
nal price of the animal was thirteen cents, with 
a much -damaged fish line and hook thrown 
in. He was much too young to eat solid food, 
so we fed him on milk with a bottle and rubber 
nipple. When being fed he always sat up 
perfectly straight, grasping the rubber firmly 
between his little black hands, which always 
looked as if clothed in close-fitting black gloves, 
so sharply was the line drawn between the black 
of his paws and the brown fur on his wrists and 
shoulders. When nearly satisfied he would 
grip it so tightly that none of the milk could 
escape and, taking it from his mouth, turn 
away his head for a few seconds of breathing 
space and then fall to again. He grew rapidly 
on this diet, and soon developed a liking for 
green things generally, especially caraway 
blossoms. As these grew far out of his reach, 
often three or four feet from the ground, he 
223 



224 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

found it necessary, in order to get at them, to 
sit up beside the stem and, grasping it in his 
paws, bend it over toward him, pulling it down 
hand over hand until he had reached the umbel- 
shaped clusters of bloom, every particle of which 
he ate, allowing the stalk to spring back into 
place when he had finished. Strangely enough, 
he never troubled the vegetables in the garden 
in any way, although allowed to wander about 
the place at his own discretion. He managed 
to get along fairly well with the cats, though 
there was not much affection on either side. 
Whenever he saw one of them drinking milk 
from a saucer, he liked to come up softly from 
behind and nip its heels, and then scuttle off 
to some place of concealment in time to escape 
punishment. He often persisted in this amuse- 
ment until the cats retired in disgust, whereupon 
he would proceed to help himself to the milk 
they had left. If he felt sleepy, he would sit 
upright, letting his head hang down until his 
nose almost reached his hind feet, and then 
drop over on one side, rolled up into a perfect 
ball. Late in the season, he began to make 
extensive tunnels about the doorsteps and under- 
neath the paths, the caving in of which was 
the cause of several mishaps to various members 
of the family. Although perfectly familiar, 



My Pet Woodchuck 225 

he was never affectionate, and toward the close 
of the summer he left us for his native heath; 
and the rest of his history is hidden in obscurity, 
though it is safe to assume that he lived to 
grow up, and eventually developed all the 
selfish and bear-like traits characteristic of his 
family. 



THE PRAIRIE DOG 

MILES and miles of desert country stretch 
between Texas and Montana, too dry for 
farming, but yet supporting populous villages. 
They are the prairie dog villages. Soldiers on 
tiresome marches, travellers in wagon-caravans 
or on trains, all come back to tell about the 
remarkable communities built by the remark- 
able little creatures, the cheerful inhabitants 
of the arid regions, the voice of the desert. 

They are called "dogs," but they are really 
marmots. Their nearest relative we know is 
the woodchuck. They bark. That is quite 
enough to fix the wrong name upon them. 
Everybody who looks at them knows that 
"dogs" they are not. They are nowhere 
near the dogs in relationship. 

A short-haired, plump little body, not un- 
like a young puppy's at first glance, but with 
squirrel-like head and hands, and a flattened 
tail. This is our little brown desert wood- 
chuck. He is lively, alert, curious, and in- 
finitely cheerful, apparently satisfied with his 

226 



The Prairie Dog 227 

rather dismal surroundings. Above all, he 
likes the society of his own kind, and this is 
why the villages grow to cities, sometimes 
bigger far than London or New YorL 

I quote the following from Major Mearus, 
who studied the mammals of the Southwest. 

"In wild regions the 'prairie dog/ as this 
squirrel is universally called, is devoid of shy- 
ness in the presence of man. As one rides up 
to one of their so-called Villages' he is greeted 
on all sides by the sharp 'bark' of the 'dogs/ 
scores of whom may be seen seated erect on 
the large mounds which they have thrown up 
around the entrances to their burrows. 1 
have seen two troops of cavalry dismount 
and open fire on them for several minutes 
without frightening them into their burrows. 
The energy of their barking and accompanying 
bobbing motion of their bodies are amusing; 
but, to the weary traveller in the arid wastes 
usually occupied by these barking squirrels, 
their incessant cries soon become wearisome 
if not positively annoying, from the fancied 
challenge conveyed by their harsh tones and 
insolent bearing. They sit straight up on their 
hind extremities and bark as loudly as they 
possibly can until one rides toward them, 
when they drop down within the basin or de- 



228 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

pression at the opening of their burrows, show- 
ing only their head and shoulders. There are 
often several burrows in each mound, and it 
is a common sight to see the 'dogs' leap from one 
side of the mound to an entrance on the op- 
posite side, in which they disappear. They 
frequently keep on barking as one approaches, 
but gradually recede within their burrows until 
only the top of the flat head or the end of the 
nose is left exposed to view, finally disappearing 
entirely. When frightened into their holes, 
some time usually elapses ere they regain suffi- 
cient confidence to reappear; then a nose is 
cautiously raised to view, its owner attunes its 
voice to the familiar strain, and is speedily 
joined in a chorus by the whole community. 
"They are not disturbed by the building of 
a railroad across their domains; on the contrary, 
the passing trains enliven their desert home 
and beguile their leisure hours. Some sit up 
and watch the locomotive thundering by with- 
out becoming in the slightest degree disconcerted 
thereby, evidently regarding it as a creation 
for their especial entertainment; others, to 
whom the noise and smoke are as 'an oft- 
told tale/ are sprawling flat across the summit 
of their mounds, phlegmatically enjoying the 
accustomed sun bath, while some jump play- 




The saucy, curious, barking "prai- 
rie dog" is the little cousin 
of the woodchuck 



The plump gray squirrel of the 
park is a delightful friend 
and neighbour 





The woodchuck loves to sun himself at the door of his burrov 




The beaver's work proves him the most intelligent and industrious 
of all the gnawing animals 



The Prairie Dog 229 

fully up into the air as the train rushes past 
them. 

"The source whence the prairie dog derives 
the water necessary for its subsistence is a 
fruitful topic of discussion among frontiersmen. 
Some assert that it requires no water for 
drinking, others maintaining that it digs deep 
wells, some of which are recognizable by the 
unusually large mounds about their entrances 
and the wet tracks of the animals returned 
from drinking. 

"Although it prefers the highest plains, it 
is by no means unknown to the mountains of 
Arizona, where I have seen colonies living in 
the pine forests, and have found the animals 
eight thousand feet above sea level. Some 
were living in cliffy hillsides, burrowing under 
rocks, over which they climbed with easy confi- 
dence, often choosing the top of some large one 
for a rostrum from which to salute one's approach 
with their noisy c barking.' Near Flagstaff a 
colony occupied a hillside adjoining a wheat 
field, which later they totally destroyed, not- 
withstanding the efforts of the owner to save 
his crop. 

"This barking squirrel is a grain-eater, de- 
vouring nearly every green thing within its 
settlements, which in consequence become 



230 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

barren and forbidding in appearance. Lack 
of food or sudden inundations are the ordinary- 
causes leading to a change of location, which is 
usually accomplished by a gradual invasion 
of contiguous territory. 

"An interesting chapter might be written 
under the caption of 'The Prairie Dog as a Pet/ 
to which every army youngster could contrib- 
ute something of interest from personal ex- 
perience. In captivity it is playful, and makes 
an extraordinarily bright and agreeable pet. 
It is fond of raw meat, and drinks water freely. 
Its propensity for undermining the walls of the 
buildings and digging up the yards is regarded 
as reprehensible by some; but, to juvenile 
minds, such trifling peccadilloes are more than 
compensated for by its clever tricks and its 
attachment for its master, at whose clothing 
it will tug when ready for a frolic or desirous 
of being fed. " 

It is true that the burrowing owl and the 
deadly rattlesnake are found living in the houses 
of prairie dogs. But they do not live together 
in peace, as we have been told many times over. 
The owl would rather drive the 'dog' out of his 
house than build one for itself. The snake 
and the owl both like tender little prairie 
dogs to eat. The neighbourhood furnishes 



The Prairie Dog 231 

such supplies in abundance, so the bird and 
the reptile move in, and are seen going in and 
out, about their business, the prairie dogs 
apparently taking no notice of them. The 
superficial observer spreads the tale of a three- 
cornered friendship, but careful study has 
proved it false, beyond a question. 

The white-necked ravens, which haunt the 
villages in Arizona, are said to live on the 
young prairie dogs, and the badger is one of 
its mortal foes. So is the coyote. 



THE FLYING SQUIRRELS 

FLYING squirrels are the fortunate little 
aviators provided with webs of skin that 
stretch from front to hind-legs on each side of the 
body. When one takes a leap from the top of a 
tree, it is with the full knowledge that this two- 
winged parachute will check his flight, and ease 
the shock when he alights. He skims or sails 
down, and some of these leaps cover astonish- 
ing distances. Notice this, though: the flying 
squirrel does not fly upward. That would be 
real flying, a feat that is just beyond his 
powers. So his name is not correct, any more 
than that of the flying fish, whose wing-like fins 
spread out, and enable it to sail downward at 
a long and graceful sweep after jumping out 
of the water, just as many other fish do. They 
have no power to skim, so they return to the 
water with a flop. 

A family of flying squirrels lived in an aban- 
doned flicker's nest in a hollow tree. The 
mother had taken out a lot more of the crum- 
bling rotten wood to give them all the room 

232 



The Flying Squirrels 233 

they needed, and there the five slept curled up 
in little round balls through the hours of day- 
light. They had been born in late April, 
and they were quite old enough to take care 
of themselves when winter came. Their mother 
and father both had had a hand in their up- 
bringing. It was the family habit to wake 
and scurry out of the nest as soon as the sun 
dropped out of sight. Then as the twilight 
came and the outlines of objects grew fainter 
in the shadowy tree tops, little living shadowy 
forms appeared and disappeared, silent as 
moonbeams. But darkness brought them more 
confidence, and any creature with the eyes of 
a cat or an owl could plainly see that the flying 
squirrels were out in a frolic with neighbours 
from other trees. In fact they simply swarmed. 
People said the red squirrels owned that piece 
of woods. They were fairly abundant there, 
and the chatter they made gave the impression 
that their numbers were far greater than they 
actually were. But the flying squirrels so 
far outnumbered them that it was a big joke. 
While the gossiping, scolding red squirrels 
slept in their nests, the swarms of their gentle, 
playful little cousins were laughing together, 
playing tag, and wondering who, after all, 
really did own the woods. 



234 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Tag is a pretty exciting game when boys and 
girls play it. How much more it would be if, 
instead of running all the time, they could leap 
and climb and swing off of the topmost limb of 
the tallest tree, and sail away to the tree top 
across the street, or to the top of the house! 
This is the flying squirrel's game. They do 
not fly as birds do. They go up the tree with 
the speed and agility of the liveliest squirrel. 
The leader leaps off when the twig sways under 
his slight weight, and spreads his feet as wide 
apart as possible. This extends the fold of 
skin between the fore and hind leg on each side 
of the body, and it becomes a sail or parachute. 
The thick, flat tail acts as a rudder. The body 
sails downward at an angle of about thirty 
degrees to the vertical, but gathering momen- 
tum, the angle widens, and at the end of the 
long leap the course bends upward, the squirrel 
catches the nearest limb, swings to the more 
solid footing of the larger boughs, and furls 
his sails. 

So they spend the playtime of the long night. 
But there are more serious interests to serve. 
A hide-and-seek game of life and death when 
owls are hunting food for their young, and 
weasels, foxes, and martens are plotting against 
their lives. The thin little squeak of joy in 



The Flying Squirrels 235 

the game may turn into one of terror when the 
shadow overhead is that of a great barred owl, 
with talons ready to seize the little aeronaut 
at the end of a daring flight. 

No food is laid up for winter stores, so the 
question of staving off hunger is always a vital 
one. Beechnuts are to be had in some years, 
at times when snow does not bury them too 
deep. All nuts are good food for flying squir- 
rels. But they eat seeds of many trees, berries 
that dry on bushes, buds and tender bark, and 
various hibernating insects. Campers know 
the liking of these animals for all sorts of table 
scraps and even for candles! They will eat 
almost anything. They constantly get into 
traps set for larger fur-bearers, to the great 
disgust of the trappers. 

No mother will show more tenderness and 
self-sacrifice than a flying squirrel when danger 
threatens her precious brood. One by one she 
carries them out of harm's way, and gives all 
the strength and cunning she has to save them. 



A NIGHT WITH THE NIGHT-FLYERS 

A FAMILY of lively children went to the 
woods with their father for a load of 
firewood, and the fun of a long sled-ride 
over snowy roads, and a picnic dinner 
around a gypsy fire at noon. There were 
fox-and-geese and other games to keep their 
feet warm while the father and older brother 
cut down the trees, trimmed them of branches, 
and loaded the sled. The dinner was a 
great success, and after the fire was put 
out, a few more trees were cut down to add to 
those already loaded. One of these trees was 
a ragged old thing, crippled by lightning, and 
hollowed by disease. When it fell, the top 
broke open and a very sleepy family of flying 
squirrels rolled out on the snow bank, utterly 
dazed by the fall, and the glitter of the snow. 
It was the biggest brother who seized the empty 
dinner pail and put the five little balls of fur 
into it and clapped on the lid. Later, to give 
them air, he tied his woollen scarf over the top, 
and they brought their treasures home, plan- 

236 



A Night with the Night-flyers 237 

ning all the way how they could make them 
comfortable through the winter and establish 
them in the home grove, all of small and sound 
trees, for the coming spring. 

There was great excitement when the menag- 
erie was exhibited at the house. The little 
creatures were sleepy and did not object to 
the careful handling they got. The scarf was 
replaced while the chores were being done, and 
the pail was set for safe-keeping in a corner of 
the spare bedroom. 

That evening unexpected company came, 
and the visitors spent the night. At a late 
hour the good-nights were said, and two ladies 
went to sleep in the guest room. About mid- 
night, a scream, and then another and another, 
roused the whole family, and the children were 
sure that at last the Indians had come to kill 
them all. Mother was not a coward, and she 
was downstairs in a jiffy to find out the mean- 
ing of the tumult. It was the flying squirrels, 
which had easily gained their freedom by 
gnawing a hole in the knitted scarf that covered 
them. The lights out, they came forth to 
explore their new surroundings. 

"It was nothing that I could describe that 
wakened me," said the lady whose scream had 
roused the household. "I was dimly conscious 



238 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

of something velvety and warm, touching my 
cheek, like a butterfly's wing. I thought it was 
a beautiful dream. But I put my hand up 
over my head, and there on the pillow was a 
warm little body that disappeared without a 
sound. On the counterpane I touched an- 
other, and then I screamed. The room was 
full of them, I knew, and I didn't know what 
they were. " 

Then the light was brought in, and the story 
of the squirrels was told, while the five little 
squirrels were being caught and caged for the 
rest of the night. And the fact that they were 
put into the guest room and totally forgotten 
was explained and readily forgiven. But the 
irregular darned place in the big brother's 
scarf always reminded the family of the night 
the " Indians" came, when nobody was 
massacred. 



OTHER AMERICAN RODENTS 
THE BEAVER 

TO "work like a beaver " is to do one's very 
best. Very few people ever saw a beaver 
setting the example which every boy and girl 
has been urged to follow, whenever interest 
in the work in hand lagged. This means that 
the wonderful big squirrel-like creature (mouse- 
like, too) has a great reputation. He is famous, 
and his deeds are known in every part of the 
country, even by people who never saw him 
nor any of his achievements. 

I have visited the beaver which lives at the 
New York Zoological Park, but I never found 
him out. He was always in y and thus invisible 
to callers. He retires when daylight comes, 
and sleeps while people pass and repass his 
house, waiting and hoping to get a glimpse of 
him. The gates have closed on the last loiterer 
before the Zoo beaver wakes, and takes up 
his duties. He works under cover of the 
friendly dark. 

239 



240 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

How does he look — this remarkable engineer, 
which builds dams to make ponds where there 
are none; which digs canals to bring his loads of 
wood homeland never seems to get tired or 
discouraged? 

A chunky, hump-backed animal, with squir- 
rel-like head, short legs, and a broad, flat, scaly 
tail. The feet are peculiar. The front ones 
are hands, used for grasping, and for digging, 
and for trowel work with mud plaster. They 
are strong, and the five fingers bear long, hooked 
claws. The hind feet are much larger than 
the other pair. The five toes are long, set with 
hooked claws, and united by a web that ex- 
tends to the nails. The claw of the second toe is 
double, and Seton thinks it may be used as 
a comb for the capture of insects in the close 
under fur. The whole foot is the swimming tool, 
and a most effective organ in use. The tail 
is bare of fur, and covered with overlapping 
scales. It is not used as a trowel, though this 
is set down in many books, and has long been 
believed by all except those who have studied 
the beaver at home. Naturalists of this class 
say that beavers brace themselves on the tail 
when they are at their work of cutting down 
trees, and when they wish to get a good view 
of the surrounding country. It is almost as 



The Beaver 241 

good a support as the kangaroo's tail, which 
is used in the same way. 

The chief use of the beaver's tail is seen when 
he is disturbed at his work by the approach of 
a hunter. The creature is probably one of 
a pair. The duty assigned to him (or her) 
is to watch while the mate works. On the 
approach of an enemy, the watcher signals 
to the other by slapping the surface of the 
water with one stroke of his big tail, and plunk! 
he goes with a dive out of sight. The others 
follow the example. Slap ! plunk ! and the water 
closes over each. If the shot of a hunter 
mortally wounds a beaver, he dives without 
first slapping. 

In the water, the tail is the rudder, and a 
very useful tool it is. The hind feet are the 
paddles, and the forefeet grasp the burden that 
is being carried. 

The business of life for a pair of beavers is to 
provide themselves with a home by the side of 
a pond or stream that will never go dry, and 
not too far from trees of the kind that they use 
as food. Natural streams that flow slowly, 
or small lakes and ponds they choose, if the 
banks are of clay. Sandy soil makes poor mud; 
and rocky shores are a nuisance to beavers. 
Rushing streams are liable to floods and then 



242 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

low water, each of which is bad for beavers. 
On the banks of his chosen stream or lake 
there must grow an abundant supply of poplars 
and willows. 

All through this country, from the Far North' 
to the Mexican border, the beaver used to find 
the necessary natural advantages he sought, 
and the signs of his presence still remain, though 
trappers and hunters, and the growth of cities, 
and the draining of land for farm use has 
driven these timid animals to the wildest regions, 
and reduced their numbers by killing for their 
flesh and fur. The range of the beaver is not 
to-day half what it used to be, and the numbers 
have lessened, until now the animals are scarce 
in almost all parts of the country. Fortunately 
they multiply rapidly when protected. Game 
laws in several states prevent the trapping of 
them, and in the Adirondacks they are being 
reestablished by liberating pairs brought from 
other regions. They take kindly to their new 
surroundings, rebuild the old embankments, and 
establish new communities where the old ones 
were destroyed years ago, through the deadly 
work of the steel trap. 

A prospector relates a story of a fight be- 
tween a beaver and a mountain lion. The miner, 
encamped on the Colorado River at a point 



The Beaver 243 

where there was a broad sand flat, saw a beaver 
in the early morning crossing the sand flat 
to a strip of cottonwood timber, whence it was 
afterward seen dragging a stick of wood back 
toward the water. A mountain lion was then 
seen crouched in the trail watching, ready to 
intercept the beaver. As the latter approached 
the lion sprang upon it, and the two animals 
closed in a desperate conflict. The fortunes 
of war wavered, now on the side of the lion, 
now on that of the beaver. The miner, taking 
his rifle in hand, cautiously approached the 
combatants and watched them from a place 
of concealment. After fighting a long time the 
beaver was left dead on the field and the lion 
attempted to crawl from the spot, followed by 
the prospector, who found it unnecessary to 
use his rifle, as the lion soon lay down upon 
the sand and died from exhaustion. 



THE BEAVERS' BUILDINGS 

TWO beavers, when they have chosen each 
other as mates for life, set out to find a 
suitable place to make their home. They may 
find plenty of poplars and willows growing on the 
boggy border of a slow stream, but if a settler's 
home is near by, they will go farther. The 
situation chosen at last may be a stream that is 
small, and so shallow that it scarcely allows 
them a chance to swim in it. But they know 
what they are about. The first thing is to 
build a dam. The water above it will form a 
pond, deep enough so that it will not be likely 
to freeze to the bottom in winter. In such a 
pond, beavers can hide in time of danger; in it 
they can store their winter supplies of food, 
and on its shore build their home. 

The trees along the bank lean a little toward 
the water. This helps. The first job is to 
cut down a lot of them, enough for the frame- 
work of the dam. The tools for wood-cutting 
are the beaver's strong gnawing teeth, two 
above and two below, set in the front of the 

244 



The Beavers' Buildings 245 

jaws. These heavy chisels are worked by jaw 
muscles that are very strong. 

A beaver sits up, propped on his tail, at the 
base of the tree to be cut down. He grasps 
the trunk between his two hands and turns 
his head to one side as he applies his great 
gnawing teeth to the trunk. A stem four inches 
in diameter will be cut in a few minutes, the 
cutter not stopping his work until the top 
sways, and he moves away and watches for it 
to fall. 

Larger trees have tougher wood, and take a 
longer time, but two beavers, alternately watch- 
ing and gnawing, will get a five-inch tree down 
in an hour. A big cottonwood may take several 
days to fell. When it is almost ready to fall, 
the watcher slaps the water with its tail. The 
working beaver then scuttles for safety before 
the swaying trunk reaches the ground. 

Next, the trunk must have its limbs gnawed 
off, and trunk and limbs must be cut into 
lengths that the beavers can drag and carry in 
the water. The largest butts are left. The work 
of cutting up the fallen trees is very hard, and 
sometimes the worker has to climb along the 
trunk several feet above the level of the ground 
to get at the bases of some of the limbs. But 
at last they are ready for use. 



246 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The selected site of the dam has a hard clay 
or gravel bottom, and is the narrowest place 
the beavers can find. In this spot they deposit, 
one by one, the largest pieces of wood, laying 
them with their butts upstream. They drag 
and push these heavy timbers to the water, 
using their teeth, hands, and shoulders, and then 
swim off with them, grasped in teeth and hands. 
Their branches covered with foliage form a 
mat of brush to catch the mud brought down- 
stream. But the beavers must weight each 
butt with wood or stones to keep it in place 
while they go for others. Gradually the stream 
is choked by the accumulation, and the builders 
see with satisfaction the results they wished to 
produce. The stream broadens and deepens 
as the dam grows higher. 

When the dam is built high in the middle 
of the stream, the beavers attend to extending 
it at both ends. The mud used to fill the spaces 
in the underbrush layers is scooped up from the 
bottom and banks of the stream. Roots of 
grasses and water plants form a sod that holds 
against the current. 

The soil gradually becomes grass-grown 
above the water line, the seeds of trees lodge 
on it, and twigs of willows strike root there. 
Thus the dam becomes at last a tree-covered 



The Beavers' Buildings 247 

barricade, and the stream above it a pond 
or lake, especially deep where the beavers took 
up the most mud, just above the mud-faced, 
curving front. 

In all the years that follow, the tree roots bind 
the parts of the dam more closely together, 
but the current of the stream is always trying 
to tear it down by washing out the mud. 
The wood part rots away. Always the beavers 
must be inspecting and repairing. No beaver 
dam is ever finished or beyond the need of 
repairs. But so long as the beavers stay, it 
holds; and when they leave, it gradually 
becomes a ruin. 

The dam finished, the beavers turn their 
attention to a winter home, which they locate 
on the edge of the pond. In summer it is 
easy to live on the roots of pond lilies and other 
water plants, the bark of trees and tender 
green twigs. But winter is coming. They cut 
down trees, and trim off their branches, and 
build a broad conical wood pile that rises out of 
the water, a mass of interlacing branches held 
together with mud. Then they gnaw a passage 
up through the base of it. 

The living-room of this half-submerged house 
is above the water line. It is reached by a long 
tunnel, which has its outside door two or three 



248 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

feet below the water level. More often there 
are two tunnels leading from each house. The 
roof of the chamber is thin and porous in one 
place, so that air can get in. And the beavers 
keep their house neat and clean. 

The winter provisions are stored on the pond 
bottom, near the door of the house. They 
would look to us like the beginnings of a new 
house, or just a wood pile. The beaver pre- 
fers the bark of poplars, and lays up a quantity 
of cut branches. Besides these, he stores roots 
of water and bog plants. 

The heavy green wood requires but little 
loading with mud to keep it from floating, 
until it is fully water-soaked; then it stays 
down of its own weight. The idea that beavers 
suck the air out of green wood to prevent it 
from floating is quite as absurd as the idea 
that they lay a kind of spell or charm upon it. 
The brush has to be tethered to prevent it being 
washed away. 

In winter the beaver digs out a stick, carries 
it into the house, eats it clean of bark, then adds 
the bare stick to the dam or to his roof. In 
times of scarcity he must eat the wood some- 
times. It must be a comfort to know that there 
is plenty laid by, below the ice, to tide the 
family over the freezing weather. The beaver 



The Beavers' Buildings 249 

is taking his vacation now, but he does not sleep 
the winter away, as many animals do. Every 
break in the weather finds him exploring the 
edges of the ice, probably hoping that the thaw 
is to go on, until all the ice turns to water, and 
the spring growth brings more attractive sup- 
plies of fresh green foods. Such an energetic 
animal finds time hanging heavy on his hands 
when he cannot get out and take exercise. 

Inside, the house is dry and clean, with a floor 
of mud-plastered twigs, a few inches above the 
water line. It is made comfortable by bedding 
of grass and fine chips, and here, in May, the 
young are born. Two to five is the usual number. 
After a month of babyhood, the mother leads 
them out, and they learn to swim, and soon 
after they begin to feed on tender roots, and 
depend on milk no longer. The parents teach 
their youngsters to work; and in the fall the 
final repairs on the dam, and the laying up of 
winter food supplies is done by the whole 
family, working together. 

Year by year, if undisturbed, the family 
grows larger, and new lodges, built for the use 
of the young ones, appear in the pond. It is 
now a beaver village, and the food trees along 
shore are all cut away. Obliged to go farther 
away, the beavers smooth paths and actually 



250 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

dig canals by which wood can more easily be 
brought home. And landing places, shaped 
of mud, are built along the border of the pond. 
These are also used by day as sunning places. 

When a young beaver finds a mate, the old 
ones go with the younger pair and help them 
build their dam and lodge. Then they return 
home leaving the youngsters comfortably housed. 
Thus a new family is founded, and the problem 
of feeding its numerous members is made easier 
at the old home pond. 

Certain "old bachelors" among beavers 
are hermits, living in burrows in the banks of 
streams, and working only enough to keep 
from starving. Some are solitary, others form 
clubs and live together. They are scorned by 
their industrious neighbours, which are never 
idle, but possibly they do not care. They may 
be beavers who have lost interest in life because 
their mates have died. They are not welcomed 
into any beaver community, and they usually 
end their lives in traps. 



WHAT THE BEAVER HAS DONE 

THE building of dams and canals proves the 
beaver's intelligence, skill, and foresight. 
He is wonderful. But he is not as bright as he 
is represented, quite. He does not manage so 
that a tree's fall is always in the direction he 
determines. Quite as often it falls the wrong 
way. He does not drive stakes in the stream 
bed, like piles. He does not use his useful tail 
as a trowel. He leaves heavy logs where they 
are. If one is found in a dam, be sure he took 
advantage of its being lodged there. He could 
not drag and put it there — he nor his family, 
all working together. He rarely plasters his 
hut with mud on the outside. Any one who 
sees a beaver lodge or a picture of one can see 
that it looks like a pile of sticks thrown together. 

It is quite unnecessary to exaggerate the 
beaver's virtues and intelligence. He is a 
wise, industrious, peace-loving creature. 

You all know that a swift stream that drains 
bare slopes is a very turbulent and dangerous 
one when heavy rains come. The brook be- 

251 



252 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

comes a torrent; its waters overflow its banks, 
and damage all the regions it flows over. The 
fields are soaked and their rich soil washed 
away by the subsiding floods. Then before the 
summer is over the stream is low, its tributaries 
all dry, the field parched, the crops suffering. 

All over the Eastern states are rich, broad 
meadows, where once were only narrow rivers. 
Beavers dammed the streams and they broadened 
into shallow ponds where the soil washed down 
from the slopes around, accumulated and grad- 
ually made rich, level " bottom" land. The 
beavers are gone, and their dams are gone, 
but the country is the richer for the farm land 
the beaver made. 

In the wilder parts of the United States the 
beavers are still doing their work. The forests, 
destroyed by lumbering and by fire, no longer 
prevent the wasting of the land, the carrying 
away by destructive floods of the valuable 
surface soil. Floods and droughts alternate, 
and both rob and discourage the farmer. The 
beaver throws his dam across the stream and 
checks its flow. Immediately the saving of 
water and soil above the, dam begins. Deep 
ravines fill gradually, and broaden into lakes 
that finally become rich meadows. Every 
river that rises in the Rocky Mountains, (so 



What the Beaver Has Done 253 

Enos Mills says) begins its course by passing 
slowly through a series of " beaver meadows, 55 
some of them very extensive. A beaver colony 
at the head of every stream would equalize 
its flow, check the tearing down of soil along 
its course, and add greatly to the beauty of its 
scenery. We Americans have greatly injured 
ourselves by killing off the beaver for its fur. 
It is much more valuable to us alive than dead. 
Now we knew that it is very stupid as well as 
cruel to destroy so valuable an animal. 

The beaver's work hours are the night, but 
he is abroad also in daytime. A sun bath is 
taken by lying on a mud landing or a half- 
submerged log. In this situation he may easily 
be overlooked by the person who has not very 
sharp eyes. Any unusual noise make him 
slip noiselessly under water. 

The children in a beaver family romp to- 
gether in the water, playing a kind of tag, 
pushing each other off of the bank, or log, into 
the water. They race, slide down the smooth 
" slides," made to let logs and poles roll down 
to the water, and scuffle together like so many 
schoolboys. The youngsters occasionally dawdle 
over their work when learning to cut down 
trees. They gnaw a while, then eat a piece 
of bark, and rest between times; and they get 



254 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

scolded for it just as other children do who shirk 
their duties and play at their work. But when 
the limbs are to be carried to the house, each 
youngster seizes his branch in his teeth, swings 
it over his back, and swims off, as if in a game; 
though this is just as necessary work as the more 
laborious cutting. 



RATS AND MICE 

THE mice that squeak behind the wain- 
scoting or glide noiselessly along the wall, 
and disappear when you try to make friends with 
them, are immigrants from Europe. They did 
not come in by way of Bering Strait, as some 
hardy Northern animals have done. They came 
by ship, as other colonists did. They still come, 
hidden in bags of grain, boxes of fruit, bales of 
carpets. They race up and down in the ship's 
hold, while the stevedores unload the cargo. 
They have a chance to visit the mice that live 
along the wharves of every port of call. So 
mice are famous globe-trotters. A New York 
mouse may spend a year abroad whenever it 
wishes a change. There is always room for it 
to take passage, though all the staterooms were 
taken months in advance of the sailing date 
it happens to choose. 

Rats have come from Europe in the same 
tramp fashion of stealing a ride. Every wharf 
harbours its thousands of them. They honey- 
comb the ground with their burrows, and find 
25s 



256 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

plenty to eat by swimming about the kitchen 
end of vessels that are loading, and by scavenger 
work on the land. Their best work hours are 
when men are in bed, and "the coast is clear." 

Rats are loathsome creatures, repulsive in 
appearance and in habits. The destruction of 
property they accomplish in a year is very 
great. Now we know that they carry the germs 
of the deadly "bubonic plague," and transmit 
it to human beings, whom they bite while the 
latter are asleep. This fact has stirred the 
city of San Francisco to undertake a rat-killing 
campaign. Every city must follow this one, 
if danger of outbreaks of the dreaded plague 
of the Orient is to be averted. 

The habits of rats are well known by all who 
have read carefully "The Pied Piper of Hame- 
lin." Read it again! It is a charming story 
that preserves forever an old tradition that 
has a true foundation. It is one of the poems 
that everybody ought to know by heart. 



AMERICAN RATS AND MICE 

BETTER behaved than the slum-dwelling 
city rats from foreign lands, and yet 
unpopular with people for good reasons, are the 
rats and mice that infest the fields, living on 
the crops. 

The cotton rat, a brown and yellow mottled 
creature, smaller than a house rat, and with a 
shorter tail, injures the cotton crop. The 
ricefield mouse (which is a rat) infests the 
lowlands, damaging the rice crops. The 
harvest mice damage the grain fields, and 
later on the granaries, in the North. Field 
mice range all over the country, taking toll 
of the farmer's crops, yet harvesting seeds of 
many wild plants in which the farmer has no 
interest. 

In the Far North live the lemming mice, 
little creatures that remind one of guinea pigs. 
Their short legs and tails scarcely protrude 
beyond the long fur that changes from brownish 
gray in summer to white in winter. They store 
away vegetable food for winter, but the foxes 
257 



258 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

kill many of them, and they are the prey of all 
the bigger wild creatures that sniff their sleep- 
ing quarters, and dig them out. 

The prettiest mouse in this country is the 
white-footed, or deer mouse, brown above and 
white beneath. The great eyes of this little 
beauty are glorious as a deer's. It makes its 
nest on the ground or under it, or in the hollow 
limb of a tree, far up among the green foliage. 
Often they nest in the skulls of buffalo that 
bleach on the plains. Cleanly as she is beau- 
tiful, the white-foot attracts every unpreju- 
diced person. With her little ones clinging to 
her she runs for safety, and we hope that she 
may always find it. 

Voles are little brown mice of the Nortnwest. 
Kangaroo mice and rats, with long hind legs 
and cheek pouches, represent two distinct 
families that travel in kangaroo fashion, their 
front feet tucked under their chins. The jump- 
ing mouse is no larger than a house mouse, 
yet a leap of ten feet is possible to it. In this 
feat, it outdoes all other high jumpers in the 
animal kingdom. 

So, at a glance, we look at the great family of 
the mice and rats, astounded at their numbers 
and wide distribution, and full of wonder in 
their success in the struggle against extermina- 




At any age the white-footed or deer mouse is the most beautiful 
and attractive member of its family 





The muskrat is not a. famous beauty, but it has more good 
than any other rat 




Most animals know better than to attack the porcupine 




Copyright, 1894, by A. G. Wallihan 

The big, athletic jack hare, commonly called "jack rabbit," is a 
western species 




Molly Cottontail hiding in the dead grass 



American Rats and Mice 259 

tion. While the millions are being destroyed 
more millions are born. So it goes. 

We so hate the thought of a rat or a mouse, 
that the question comes to us at last: "What 
are they here for?" And another follows: 
"Do rats and mice serve man in any way?" 
Ernest Thompson Seton has best answered 
them both. 

"What moss is to the reindeer, what grass 
is to the cattle, the mouse millions of the 
North are to the Northern carnivores, from 
bear to Blarina. . . . Mice eat the seeds, 
stems, and roots of the grasses. They turn 
grass into meat to feed their big, bloodthirsty 
cousins. It is the way of the world. The 
grazing herds feed man." 



THE BEAVER'S LITTLE COUSIN, THE 
MUSKRAT 

IN THE prairie states, one of the farmer's first 
problems was to get rid of the multitude 
of small, boggy ponds that dotted his land. 
Often wide stretches of boggy ground, covered 
with cat-tails, bulrushes, and arrow-heads, sur- 
rounded the open water, and a sluggish stream 
connected a chain of these shallow " sloughs." 

The lord of the pond was the muskrat, which 
rarely showed himself to anybody, but whose 
house lifted its rounded dome above the water 
and announced his presence. Among the reeds, 
and on the muddy bottom he found food and 
building materials, and he had no need for 
anything the pond did not supply. 

I remember once seeing this big, brown rat 
swimming with his head above water, and mak- 
ing very good speed. When he saw me, his 
surprise was as genuine as mine. He disap- 
peared and I got a glimpse of the long, bare 
rat-like tail streaking after him, as he swam 
swiftly through the clear water, as far as possible 
below the surface. 

260 



The Beaver's Little Cousin, The Muskrat 261 

When danger approaches, the first muskrat 
to sense it, if he be sunning himself on the bank, 
slaps the water with his flat tail, and dives with 
a tremendous splash. All the muskrats within 
reach of this sound follow suit. This coopera- 
tion in defending each other is sign of in- 
telligence. Often the houses are enlarged to 
accommodate more than one family. But each 
has its own doorways. The families do not live 
together. 

Two muskrats work together to build the 
home and rear the young, which are born in 
the spring in the airy, dry, clean chamber of 
the house. When they are a month old the 
three mouse-coloured youngsters are able to 
take the plunge down into the steep tunnel 
that leads from the home out to deep water. 
It may be short or long, straight or crooked. 
It is longest when the house is on the bank 
of a shallow pond with gradually sloping 
bottom. 

The making of a house interests the young 
muskrats before midsummer is past. The 
beginning of a house is the laying of a founda- 
tion. From the bottom the pair dig up mud, 
and the debris of living and dead plants. A 
bank of this plaster, bound together by vege- 
table fibre, is overlaid with reeds and grass. 



262 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The island that rises is surrounded by deep 
water, cleared and deepened by the excavation 
for materials. So loose is the top of the struc- 
ture that when the builders run their tunnel 
up through the foundation their heads come up 
in the midst of a loose pile of reeds. This gives 
good ventilation, but winter is coming. More 
reeds are cut and laid on above. The weight 
presses the mass down. They gnaw it out from 
below, to keep their house of comfortable size. 
Another exit may be made, for emergency use, 
and the tunnels are deepened. At last the 
roof is tight, except in one place, which is left 
thin on purpose to let in fresh air. Now they 
are snug for winter. The dead reeds standing 
all about are of the same colour as the reed- 
thatched house. This is good, for it keeps 
the dome from being too conspicuous. 

The muskrat lives on the tender roots 
and bleached stalks of the plants in his pond 
or stream. He does not need to go away from 
home. After his house is done, he builds float- 
ing rafts of reeds, tethered to a few growing 
ones. These rafts may become permanent 
homes later by putting some more work on 
them. But they are most useful as they are. 
In summer they are used as feeding places. 
In winter they furnish breathing places when 



The Beaver's Little Cousin, The Muskrat 263 

solid ice covers the clear water, and refuges 
when the house is attacked by an enemy. 

The muskrat loves to sit out on a little prom- 
ontory and enjoy the sun while he eats. So 
he constructs piers of mud for landings, just 
a little above the water level. When ice shuts 
him in, and air is not easily supplied, he finds 
the edges of his rafts and wharves full of air 
bubbles, and often there is a skin of ice held 
up by these structures while the water flows 
peacefully below, with an inch or two of air 
under the ice blanket — just what pleases the 
muskrat best. 

All winter, unless the ice freezes solid, food 
is easily dug from the bottom to help out the 
store of green stuff collected at the house. In 
severe times, the muskrats have to eat their 
ceilings and walls. A thaw eases the famine, 
always. 

In autumn the muskrats go forth, if need be, 
looking for new locations. They are not rapid 
walkers, and do not feel at home on land. They 
often fall victims to dogs, and in their per- 
plexity and fear will often fight viciously to 
escape. 

In late winter the trapping season is on, 
and thousands of these interesting creatures 
are taken for their fur. It is a brutal business. 



264 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

It is bad enough to be killed by a mink, or 
snatched by an owl, but steel traps are cruel 
beyond words. 

As inoffensive and industrious as a beaver, 
the muskrat shows intelligence of the same 
order, if not quite so high. Muskrat houses 
and rafts do the same sort of work for the im- 
provement of land as the beaver's dams. The 
animals deserve a fighting chance, and this 
they do not get from the trapper and the man 
who spears them through the frail roofs of 
their houses. The worst enemy of the musk- 
rat is weather that freezes his pond to the 
bottom. 

The name comes from the secretion of musk 
which gives the animal a rank odour, especially 
inspring. Furriers call muskrat fur "mink" and 
"marten." It is always in demand for caps 
and collars. The under fur is thick and fine, 
like beaver, when plucked of its coarse long 
hair. It is then dyed dark brown and sold 
as "electric seal." 



THE POCKET-GOPHER 

A STRANGE little creature, in both looks 
and actions, is the pocket-gopher, cousin 
to rats and mice and porcupines, but very differ- 
ent in habits from most of its kin. Its heavy 
brown-furred body is mounted on short legs. 
The fore feet are large and strong, with five 
toes, the middle three of which wear long, 
hooked claws for digging. With these tools 
the gopher digs out long, underground tunnels 
in which he lives, about three inches in di- 
ameter, and eight inches below the surface. 
The hind feet are longer, with small, short 
claws, used for crowding the fine dirt back 
in the burrow. The immense, fur-lined cheek 
pouches, opening outside the mouth, are used 
for the carrying of food — convenient lengths 
of tender grass, bits of succulent herbs, and 
grain. The strong, squirrel-like, gnawing 
teeth in front cut off roots and stems with 
remarkable quickness. The short, bare tail 
is an organ of touch. The fur is soft, like 
that of a mole, the eyes and ears are small. 

265 



266 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

In fact, the pocket-gopher lives like a mole, 
and looks somewhat like one. 

Mounds of fine earth thrown up on a green 
lawn, or across a field, tell where the pocket- 
gopher's tunnel opens, for the unloading of 
the material his hands have dug out. " Gopher 
hills" they are called and prospecting with 
a stick, one can locate the horizontal tunnel, 
below the vertical branch through which the 
patient burrower pushes the dirt up, and 
dumps it where it will no longer be in his way. 
It is not hard to locate the burrow, with these 
" hills" to guide us, though the course does 
not go from one to another in a straight line. 
If the hills are fresh, we may overtake the 
digger. His little snub nose must be calloused 
by grubbing at the hard wall of earth. His 
hind feet brace the body forward while the 
curved front claws w r ork rapidly, tearing down 
and shovelling away the dirt, which the hind 
feet shove still farther behind, keeping the 
space clear for the free movements of the 
worker. 

At intervals the digging ceases, and the 
loose earth is cleaned out of the tunnel. The 
broad palms are spread in front, and the dirt 
is pushed back. Up through the vertical 
tunnel it is pushed, and out on to the growing 



The Pocket-Gopher 267 

"hill." How he ever does it, without showing 
himself, is a marvel. Why he doesn't carry 
it in his cheek pouches, I cannot understand. 
But he doesn't. 

Another delay may be to dig a side pocket 
for storing food, but the main burrow goes 
on and on, and it often happens that night 
comes down before the eager boys, who are 
exploring such a burrow, come upon the indus- 
trious animal. 

The gopher knows what he is about. His 
life is lived among the tender roots of grasses. 
He goes out at night for stems and seeds, and 
carries them by pocketfuls into his granaries. 
When the sun is well up he opens his burrow 
at several places, and lets in the warmth and 
fresh air. By noon he closes the doors. This 
is but one indication that his habits of life 
are good. He is a cleanly beastie. 

The harm he does to man is that he ploughs 
the ground in his own way, and takes toll of 
the grass and grain roots. This may blind 
the farmer to the larger fact that gophers and 
earthworms are wonderful tillers of the soil. 
To their untiring work before men came is 
due the remarkable fertility of virgin soil. 
The prairie gophers worked without their 
partners, the earthworms, over much of the 



268 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Western country, but they did their work well, 
and are still doing it, bringing up bushels of 
finely crumbled soil, and burying under it 
the grass roots that will be well-rotted humus 
in course of a year. Humus makes loam. 

Where pocket-gophers are numerous the 
rain that falls is held in the porous soil, as in 
a sponge. Here it is when the roots of plants 
need it. So we must remember that this 
animal helps to check floods and to prevent 
droughts. 

The pocket-gophers are well recognized by 
farmers in the West as among their most 
injurious enemies. Living as they do almost 
entirely on roots and tubers, they are highly 
injurious, and they also do much damage in 
fields of grain and fodder, not so much by what 
they eat as by the amount of surface which 
they cover with fresh earth from their burrows. 
Doctor Merriam corrects a widespread erro- 
neous belief when he tells us that the cheek 
pouches, or pockets, are used exclusively for 
carrying food. It is the general impression 
that these pouches are used also for carrying 
dirt, in its removal from their burrows. An 
interesting account is given of the actions of 
a tame pocket-gopher, which was for some 
time kept in confinement, and carefully ob- 



The Pocket-Gopher 269 

served in order to learn how food is placed in the 
cheek pouches. Doctor Merriam says: "The 
animal soon became sufficiently tame to eat 
freely from the hand, and was commonly fed 
bits of potato of which he was particularly 
fond. The manner of eating was peculiar 
and interesting, and showed an ability to use 
the huge fore feet and claws in a way pre- 
viously unsuspected. After satisfying the 
immediate demands of hunger, it was his 
practice to fill one or both cheek pouches. 
His motions were so swift that it was exceed- 
ingly difficult to follow them with sufficient 
exactness to see just how the operation was 
performed. If a whole potato was given him, 
or a piece too large to go into the pouch, he 
invariably grasped it between the fore paws 
and proceeded to pry off a small piece with the 
long lower incisors. He would then raise 
himself slightly on his hind legs, and hold 
the fragments between his fore paws while 
eating, for he usually ate a certain quantity 
before putting any into his pouches. If a 
small piece were given him, he took it promptly 
and passed it quickly into the pouch. Some 
pieces were thus disposed of at once; others 
were first trimmed by biting off projecting 
angles. As a rule one pouch was filled at a 



270 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

time, though not always, and the hand of the 
same side was used to push the food in. The 
usual course is as follows: A piece of potato, 
root, or other food is seized between the incisor 
teeth, and is immediately transferred to the 
fore paws, which are held in a horizontal posi- 
tion, the tips of the claws curving toward one 
another. If the food requires reduction in size, 
the trimming is done while held in this position. 
The piece is then passed rapidly across the 
side of the face with a sort of wiping motion 
which forces it into the open mouth of the 
pouch. Sometimes a single rapid stroke with 
one hand is sufficient; at other times both 
hands are used, particularly if the piece is 
large. In such cases the long claws of one hand 
are used to draw down the lower side of the 
opening, while the food is poked in with the 
other. It is obviously impossible for the 
animal to pass fodder from the mouth to the 
pouches without the aid of its fore paws. 

"The most remarkable thing connected 
with the use of the pouches is the way they 
are emptied. The fore feet are brought back 
simultaneously along the sides of the head until 
they have reached a point opposite the hind end 
of the pouches; they are then pressed firmly 
against the head and carried rapidly forward. 



The Pocket-Gopher 271 

In this way the contents of the pouches are 
promptly dumped in front of the animal. 
Sometimes several strokes are necessary. I 
am not prepared to say that the animal cannot 
empty the pouches by means of the delicate 
investing muscles, but I have never seen them 
emptied in any other way than here described." 



THE PORCUPINE 

ONE August night a camping party in the 
Big Horn Mountains took refuge from a 
storm in the deserted shack of a sheep herder. 
The wind had blown down their tent in the 
middle of the night, and fortunate they were to 
find another, more stable, roof. The wet tar- 
paulin was spread on the dirt floor of the rude 
cabin, the beds laid on this carpet, and here 
the sleep, rudely broken by snow and wind, 
was resumed. 

Before morning the little girl of the party 
called her father, and told him that something 
was biting her foot. Thoughts of rattlesnakes 
and a hundred other horrors filled his mind, 
as he groped for a box of matches, a candle, and 
his gun. Something bit his foot, too, as he 
stepped to the rickety window shelf. A 
light put his mind at ease, for he saw porcupine 
quills scattered thickly over the bare floor. 
Any foot that strayed beyond the tarpaulin 
gathered up quills, and each one that fastened 
itself on the sole began to work its way farther 

272 



The Porcupine 273 

in. This was what caused the pain. The 
"quill-pig," or "porky," as the sheepman 
called it, had had an encounter with a dog, 
and the shack had been the scene of tTie 
duel. This was learned the next morning. 

A strange creature, and stupid beyond belief , 
is the porcupine. A big rat, ugly, small- 
eyed, heavy-set, short-legged, blundering in 
gait, with but one way of protecting itself 
against an enemy — humping its back and 
bristling its wicked coat of quills. When 
attacked, it hides its head, if there is a con- 
venient root or bowlder to tuck it under; then 
flattens its body on the ground, rears its spines 
above the long hairs and close wool of its 
coat, and lashes its stubby tail from side to 
side as a challenge and a warning. The 
vulnerable parts of the body are all protected. 
The enemy must be brave or reckless that 
tackles the "porky" now. 

Porcupine quills are easily loosened, but it 
is not true that they can be thrown out like 
little darts at the will of the animal. This is 
an old and well-established falsehood that some 
people still believe. 

The dog that seizes a porcupine gets a mouth- 
ful of quills for his pains. He cannot shut his 
mouth till somebody removes the painful and 



274 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

poisonous darts. It is a lesson dogs learn and 
remember. Foxes and wolves have no helper 
near, so they pay for their rashness with their 
lives, as the barbed points work farther and 
farther in. The puma, lynx, and wildcat 
manage better than the dogs, but they are 
wisest when they let the porcupine alone. 
The fisher has the greatest skill. He patiently 
and skilfully handles the prickly beast, at last 
managing to roll it over. On its back, it is 
helpless. His claws tear open the skin of the 
under parts, where the spines are short, and 
the fisher feasts, leaving the empty skin 
behind him. 

The reason why campers and lumbermen 
hate the porcupine is that the stupid beast 
gnaws its way into their cabins, chews up their 
wooden utensils, and eats all kinds of foods 
that have any salt in them. Salt is necessary 
for all animals. Nature seems not to supply 
it in sufficient quantities to meet the demands 
of a porcupine's appetite. For all that, it is 
hard luck for a man to return to camp and 
find the salt meat and butter, and even the 
wooden bowls and spoons, all consumed by 
porcupine visitors. Shooting will not frighten 
them away, as long as they suspect that there 
is a taste of salt in anything. 



The Porcupine 275 

The porcupine lives in the cold regioas of 
this country, chiefly in Canada. Its home is 
by preference the evergreen forests; its fa- 
vourite food, hemlock bark. In the dim 
twilight it may be seen, hunched comfortably 
in the crotch of a tree, gnawing away at the 
fragrant bark; or out on a criss-cross mat of 
small limbs it sits, pulling the twigs through 
its mouth, and thus stripping them of the 
feathery foliage. They do not always girdle 
the trees they feed upon, but they certainly 
kill a great many, both evergreens and hard- 
woods. They are fond of the full-budded, suc- 
culent twigs of poplars in the spring. 

Porcupines sleep in their holes under rocks 
and in hollow logs in winter, but they are 
all out whenever they grow hungry. Why hi- 
bernate, when fresh bark is always to be had, 
for a little exertion? 

In spring two or three baby porcupines, 
very large and bristly, are born, and by August 
they are abroad taking care of themselves. 
Surly and crabbed when attacked, the por- 
cupine is, after all, a harmless creature, which 
attends to his own business. Fervently as 
the lumberman hates him, yet he favours 
game laws that protect the creature from chance 
hunters. In the stretches of evergreen forest 



276 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

a woodsman who has lost his way is often 
glad to find a porcupine, whose flesh keeps him 
from starving. Under no other circumstances 
will a white man eat porcupine meat. Indians 
are less particular. They rather enjoy it. 

Indian beadwork and basketry are adorned 
with pleasing designs worked out with quills of 
the porcupine. The Indian squaws found out 
the most artistic uses for these little needles. 



THE HARES AND RABBITS 

A MONG the larger gnawers is the family of 
jljL which Molly Cottontail is the best known 
member to most boys and girls in this country. 
They all have fine, soft, thick fur, short bushy 
tails, very long ears, and long hind legs. 
They feed upon vegetable fare, for the most 
part. 

Dr. W. T. Hornaday distinguishes sharply 
the hares j (big, swift-running, long-eared, long- 
legged) from the rabbits, (small, weak-running, 
short-eared, short-legged) . Rabbits always live 
in burrows while hares build their nests above 
ground. But to call Molly and her near kin 
rabbits and their big cousins all hares is a lesson 
that people do not learn, and will not. But 
we can call the big fellows hares , and so set a 
good example. 

The Snowshoe Hare (I almost said rabbit, 
for that is the name by which it was intro- 
duced to me on a mountain trail in Wyoming) 
is the varying hare, for its fur changes from 
gray-brown like the woods carpet to white when 

277 



278 Wild Animals Every Child Should Ktww 

winter comes on. It is a big hare, with wonder- 
ful, spreading feet that carry it safely and 
swiftly over snow of any depth. It ranges over 
the cold half of North America, following 
the high mountain ranges south to Virginia 
and New Mexico. It eats the bark and buds 
of poplars, willows, birches and other trees, 
stripping the brush wood. 

This creature is harmless, but it has count- 
less enemies and diseases. Yet it flees the 
enemies, and survives its diseases in sufficient 
numbers to make it plentiful over a wide 
territory, even though "the plague" kills 
thousands every seventh year. 

The Polar Hare, white the year round in 
the regions of perpetual snow, grayish and 
white farther south in the brief summer, is 
the prey of all the creatures more fleet or more 
cunning. But what it finds to eat during 
the long Artie winter is hard to guess. 

The Jack Hare of the West and Southwest 
swarms over the country from which wolves, 
coyotes, and foxes have been exterminated. 
The ears of this hare are often six inches long, 
and he weighs six pounds. No other of his 
family equals him in size or in athletic ability. 
He will keep ahead of the best dog for miles 
at a stretch. Naturally, very great damage 



The Hares and Rabbits 279 

to trees and grass is done by these hares, and 
hunters in many sections come together regu- 
larly each year for rabbit drives, in which thou- 
sands of the animals are killed. 

Cottontail Rabbits. My first acquaintance 
with young rabbits began in the strawberry 
patch, one June morning, long ago. A litter 
of four little cottontails, with eyes not yet 
open and ears no bigger than a rat's, lay in a 
burrow-like hollow, protected by a mass of 
dried grass and fallen leaves, and a lining of 
fur from their mother's breast. I should 
never have seen the nest at all, except that 
I stepped into it, with one bare foot, and the 
feel of those soft, warm little bodies is something 
I shall never forget. Fortunately for them 
I was a small girl, and I stepped upon one side 
of the nest; only my toes touched the squirming 
little bunnies. They must have wondered why 
I went away so fast, and what there was to 
scream about. 

Cottontails scurry out of the garden, and 
dodge into the brier patch, bobbing their white 
tails after them, as if in defiance of the dogs 
which can't follow. They have been nibbling 
cabbage stumps, and they are welcome to 
them if they will leave the stems of young fruit 
trees alone. 



280 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Think what a struggle the rabbit has to 
live! How many bloodthirsty beasts and birds 
of prey are on its trail! See the trail that 
Molly leaves behind her in the soft snow. Its 
photograph lines the covers of this book. 

The two front feet make tracks so close 
together that they look like a dumb-bell. 
The hind feet are long and far apart. With 
each leap, the front feet strike the ground first 
close together. The hind legs straddle the 
front ones, and make the two tracks you see 
wide apart, ahead of the fore feet. It is a kind 
of " leap frog," isn't it? 



UNGULATA 

The order of hoofed mammals. 

Terrestrial, herbivorous animals, of large size, 
with digits ending in broad, horny nails. 
Incisors often wanting in one or both jaws. 

A. Even-toed group. 
Sub-order of 4-toed animals. 

Families: 

1. Hippopotamus. 

2. Pig. 

3. Peccary. 
Sub-order of 2-toed animals. 

Families: 

1. Camel. 

2. Llama. 

Sub-order of 2-4-toed animals — the cud-chew- 
ers. 
Families: 

1. Deer — 4-toed 

2. Giraffe — 2-toed 

3. Pronghorned antelope — 2-toed 

4. Cattle, sheep, and goats — 4-toed 

B. Odd- toed group. 

Families: 

1. Horse — i-toed. 

2. Zebra — i-toed. 

3. Rhinoceros — 3-toed. 

4. Tapir — 3-toed. 

5. Elephant — 5-4-3-toed. 



THE ANIMALS WITH HOOFS 
FAMILY TRAITS 

WHEN the toe ends in a broad nail, instead 
of a narrow claw, we call it a hoof. This 
distinction sets apart a great group of animals, 
that are alike in a few other traits. Five is 
the greatest number of toes any animal has. 
The families of hoofed mammals are grouped 
according to the number of their toes, of 
which the hoof is the most obvious part. Grad- 
ually the number of toes has been reduced in 
different groups. The horse has but one toe left, 
though ancestors of his show all the stages by 
which one after another was abandoned. 

Study carefully the classified list of the hoofed 
mammals on the preceding page. 



283 



THE EVEN-TOED GROUP OF 
HOOFED MAMMALS 

PETE, THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 

A MAN in uniform came into the elephant- 
house with a dozen raw potatoes in the 
bottom of a wooden bucket. He opened a door 
and entered an empty compartment, which was 
furnished only with a low rack which held a 
bundle of hay. A stairway led down half a 
dozen steps, into a big pool, as big as the other 
compartment, and a part of it. A straw or 
two floated on the surface of the water, which 
was still and dark. 

The keeper rattled the potatoes in the bucket 
and walked to the head of the stairs, calling, 
"Pete! Come up here, you old curmudgeon." 
We all looked where he was looking. A few 
bubbles rose to the top. Then a broad black 
shield came to the level of the surface; some 
distance away, a bulbous eye and a broad 
snout of huge size were outlined. Then the 
water boiled as the vision disappeared. "He's 

284 



Pete, The Hippopotamus 285 

gone down to turn around/' said the man. 
In a moment the huge bulk cf the river 
horse came into view, headed in just the 
opposite direction, and as he lumbered up 
the stairway, Pete opened his mouth to receive 
his reward, the biggest potato in the bucket. 
The man threw it, and he would have a very 
poor aim who would miss the mark . For Pete 
had opened his mouth to receive it. And it is 
like a huge cavern — that mouth. 

Hippopotamus means "river horse.". There 
were few domestic animals when the Greek 
zoologists chose this name, but we all agree 
with Oliver Herford, w^ho explains, and then 
comolains: 

His curious name derives its source 

From two Greek words: hippos — a horse, 

Potamus — river. See? 
The river's plain enough, of course; 
But why they call that thing a horse, 

That's what is Greek to me. 

Instead of being a relative of the horse, this 
hulking creature is most closely related to the 
hogs. In fact, his family is one of three in the 
sub-order of the swine. So "river hog" would 
fit him better. 

Out in the shady yard Pete good-naturedly 



286 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

watched Miss Green as she set up her camera 
and f ocussed it upon him. We wanted him to 
show a foot with the four-nailed toes that class 
him with the other hoofed mammals. The water 
still shines on his rough, leathery hide, and his 
expression is bland as we could ask. He is full 
of clover hay, potatoes, and peace. 

I believe that Pete is as happy here as if 
he basked in the sun on a sand bank in some 
East African river. Yet hippopotami can show 
temper and use their jaws with deadly results. 
So it is not safe to trust so big a creature with 
much liberty. Those born in captivity rarely 
have any trials to endure such as rouse the 
angry passions of their hunted kinsfolk in the 
wilds of Africa, who sometimes overturn boats 
and kill the men in them. 

Though a sluggish, heavy creature, the hip- 
popotamus is surprisingly agile when roused, 
and it travels long distances without resting, 
if the search for food makes it necessary. These 
tramps are made by night, as a rule. The 
plantations near streams inhabited by hippos 
are often devastated by them and growing 
crops destroyed, for these huge vegetarians like 
most green things of succulent growth, and 
acres go down in a single night when the herd 
enters a field. 



Pete, The Hippopotamus 287 

The hippo likes best to take his ease by day 
in some lagoon or deep pool, under the shade 
of border trees. The water is cool at the bot- 
tom, and the animal can stay down about three 
minutes; then he comes up snorting and fills 
his lungs for another plunge. 

Usually they herd together in considerable 
numbers, the timid youngsters on their parents' 
backs, for they are born on shore, among the 
reeds, and swimming is an accomplishment, 
they have to learn by practice. 

Floating is a favourite pastime. The bulg- 
ing eyes, the ears, forehead and snout, will 
show above the surface. Thus, himself al- 
most invisible, the hippo can observe all that is 
going on, and promptly sink if danger threatens. 
If their heads are close together the members 
of the herd are standing almost upright on 
the bottom. 

In safe streams or lakes, far from men with 
guns, taking a sun bath on a sand bar is a 
pleasant way to pass the afternoon. The 
crocodiles, and hippos of all ages sprawl to- 
gether, and soak in sunshine. 

The biggest hippopotami live in lakes. A 
specimen may weigh three or four tons. 
Smaller ones only inhabit small streams. The 
natives consider hippo meat very good, and 



288 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

they are glad to have the animals killed for 
various reasons. Often boats are attacked 
and upset by the ugly old fellows which 
recognize men as their enemies. They come 
close to a camp by night grunting and squealing, 
splashing and wallowing in the mud puddles, 
enjoying their freedom, evidently emboldened 
by the friendly dark by which they are 
protected. 



WILD PIGS 

MR. DUGMORE met a stranger in the 
African wilds that turned out to be the 
red forest hog, giant among wild swine. It is 
a rare and shy animal, unknown to scientists 
until 1904. It has not large tusks, like the 
wart hog, but great wart-like growths come out 
below the eyes. 

The huge head, supported by a thick neck, 
seems too heavy for the body. 

Wart hogs are the most ill-favoured of the 
pig family, tall, thin-bodied creatures with 
great, up-curving tusks of wicked power, and 
warty excrescences adorning the cheeks. The 
warty face is an awful caricature of the regular- 
featured and rather handsome countenance 
of our domestic hog. 

When undisturbed they root and graze on the 
African plains, the female and her troop of pigs to- 
gether, lying in the shade in the heat of the day. 

Disturbed the wart hog stands with head 
and tail up, ears cocked forward, legs far 
apart, ready to scuttle to cover, with a snort, 

289 



290 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

or stand its ground, and tear open the body 
of a dog with its tusks. The pigs are shot 
for food by hunters, and their flesh is said to 
be delicious pork. 

Have you heard of the old man who, on 
seeing the ugly-featured wart hog at the Zoo, 
turned to his companion and said : "There ainH 
no such critter, I don't believe." We have felt 
the same astonishment. It is hard to trust our 
eyes, and believe all they tell us at the Zoo. 

The wild boar is the parent stock from which 
domestic hogs have sprung. It lives still in 
European forests; its food, the roots of many 
plants,, acorns, nuts and the like. Boar-hunting 
has for centuries been the sport of noblemen 
in various countries, and still offers plenty 
of dangerous excitement to hunting parties. 
A wild boar at bay can kill a dog by a thrust 
of one of his great tusks. 

The wild hogs in America are the spare 
razor-backs and other athletic swine that 
have sprung from cultivated breeds. Their 
ancestors, displeased with their quarters or 
their rations, took to the woods, where a diet 
of nuts and acorns and other wild pasturage 
satisfied all their needs. They are very dif- 
ferent from their lazy, fat cousins in the pen, 
but they have their freedom. 



THE COLLARED PECCARY 

WHEN hunters come back from the far 
Southwest, telling about the droves of 
wild pigs they saw in the valley of the Rio 
Grande, it is not always clear just what animal 
they are talking about. The peccary is the 
native wild pig of the region, and if your hunter 
means this creature, he wall tell you that the 
coarse, long hair, longer and thicker than 
that which clothes ordinary pigs, is dark and 
grayish in effect, because each hair is banded 
with black and white. A pale, narrow band, 
like a white collar, runs from the throat up to 
the shoulders and meets a bristling mane that 
runs down the spine, from the head to the mere 
stump of a tail. A good-sized peccary is 
about three feet long, with a thin, flat body 
mounted on slender legs. Its hoofs are 
cloven, but besides the two toes it walks on, 
the fore foot has two elevated toes, and the 
hind foot one. The eye-teeth are developed 
into tusks, four in all, with which the peccary 
can do much harm to a dog, or to any other 

291 



292 Wild Animals Every Cmid Should Know 

creature that rouses its anger, or brings it 
to bay. One mode of defense is to emit the 
secretion of two glands located on the rump. 
It has somewhat the odour and strength of 
the skunk's defensive secretion, and usually 
relieves the peccary of its enemies promptly. 

The heavy head of the peccary bears short 
little ears, and ends in a pink snout, flexible 
and constantly in use as an organ of touch. 

In the woods with the peccaries are often 
found wild pigs whose ancestors escaped from 
the pens of farmers, preferring liberty, with 
acorns and pecans and the roots of succulent 
plants for food, to the comforts and luxuries 
supplied them in the domesticated state. 
Perhaps they took notice of events on the 
farm, and suspected that as they grew fatter 
their owner looked on them with more interest. 
Possibly they knew that the more generous 
the hand that flung them corn, the nearer 
came the time for making hams and sausages! 

Big black hogs, descended from Berkshire 
stock, but for generations the wild companions 
of peccaries, are fierce fighters, and, thanks to 
the abundance of their food supply, they grow 
to unusual size. Their flesh is excellent in 
flavour, and a welcome addition to the bill 
of fare of the camp. 




a 

ri 






N 



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s- 
— > 

*6 



5 



S ■ 




Two visitors from across the Mexican border: the collared peccary, 
a wild pig; and the armadillo, which is protected by a coat of mail 



The Collared Peccary 293 

Razor-back pigs have not such good breed- 
ing back of them as these black fellows. The 
shiftless farming done in many parts of this 
country produces poor farm animals. The 
athletic pig got through the fences built 
to confine him, and he took to making his 
own living in the woods. He is the "yaller 
dog" of the swine in North America. He is 
half wild, half tame, according to circum- 
stances. His hams are good eating, but he 
runs off all the fat good feeding puts on his 
bones. 

Peccaries are rarely eaten, because it is so 
hard to dress the meat and have it free from 
the skunky odour. If this were possible, the 
meat would not be bad at all. So hunters 
say who have tried it. 

If taken when quite young, and the scent 
glands destroyed, the peccary makes a gentle 
and likable pet for children. But teasing or 
abuse wall change its temper utterly, making 
the animal treacherous and dangerous to have 
about. One such pet, with an unusually affec- 
tionate disposition, had the habit of rubbing 
against the legs of people, as he passed. Some 
strange teamsters kicked it when it came near 
them. This ill-treatment ruined the creature's 
nature, and it had to be killed. 



294 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Nobody who has seen a peccary, or heard 
one squeal, or saw a wallow where one or more 
of them had luxuriously rolled in the cool 
mud, would a moment hesitate to say that it 
is "some kind of pig." 

The South American peccary is fiercer than 
our good-natured species. You may see in 
a menagerie some day the white-lipped peccary 
found from southern Mexico to Paraguay. 



THE CUD-CHEWERS 

THE RUMINANT STOMACH 

THE peculiarity of the ruminants is their 
four-roomed stomachs. There is a large 
vestibule into which the fresh nibbled grass is 
put, as swallowed. When it is well filled the 
tired grazer leaves the sunny pasture slopes 
to lie down in the shade. Here the chewing 
is done; a mouthful of grass at a time comes 
up, and is ground fine between the molars, 
which have sharp enamel edges standing up 
above the complexly folded bony substance 
that forms the teeth. This grass pulp, when 
swallowed, goes into the second room of the 
stomach, where digestion begins. Passing by 
degrees to the third and fourth rooms, the 
process is completed, and the nutriment is 
absorbed, leaving only the indigestible fibres 
to be excreted. 

The grazers have front teeth below that cut 
against a hard, toothless gum above. There 
is little use for eye-teeth, so they are either 
lacking, or very poorly developed. The side 
jaws are set with full rows of molars. 
29s 



THE ELK, OR WAPITI 

A STATELY deer, as tall as a horse, with 
slender, graceful limbs, and noble head 
supporting round antlers of many points — this 
is our American elk, the proudest, handsomest, 
and largest round-horned deer that lives. 

The elk's October coat is brownish gray on 
the body, deeper brown on neck, breast, and 
limbs. The large buff "rump patch" includes 
the short tail. A dark stripe outlines this 
area. The colour of the cows is not so bright 
as the bulls'. 

As winter wanes, the colours fade to dirty 
white in the elk's shaggy coat, and through 
the early summer it is slowly shed. The new 
coat of close, reddish-brown hair makes the 
animal look smaller. Elks are often seen 
plunging in the pools to get away from the 
pest of insects. The young lose their spotted 
coats now, and their plain new coats show 
the rump patches. 

The print of an elk's hoof in the snow shows 
two large parts in front, and two small ones 

296 



The Elk, or Wapiti 297 

behind, in each foot. These are the nails 
of the four toes. All deer have the same 
number. A tuft of hair inside the hock pro- 
tects the scent gland, by whose excretion a 
dog tracks any deer. 

If you will open the atlas at the map of 
Wyoming, and find the Yellowstone National 
Park in the upper left-hand corner, your eye 
will soon light on a place below the Park called 
Jackson's Hole. This place is not very inter- 
esting, except as it names the region where 
the elk herds of the Yellowstone spend the 
winter, and are comparatively safe. Here 
are sheltered valleys where the snow rarely gets 
so deep that the animals cannot get at the grass 
underneath. The hunting of elk is pro- 
hibited; the man who shoots one is a law- 
breaker. 

About the end of winter, as the snow melts, 
the elk drift back to the Yellowstone, climb- 
ing by easy stages to the higher levels. The 
winter coats are worn and faded, but shedding 
these is a slow process. The astonishing, sudden 
change that comes to the bull at this season 
is the shedding of the antlers, and the growing 
of a new and larger pair. The cows have no 
antlers. 

The change of antlers occurs every spring, 



298 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

and it makes another story. So we will follow 
the elk as they slowly ascend the slopes, keep- 
ing pace with the advance of spring, finding 
the food they like. This is not the tenderest 
grass, but coarser, weedy growths, and the 
twigs of poplars and other trees, budded and 
full of sap, and later leafy. The elk is a 
browser as well as a grazer. 

In May the cows give up the climb, and 
explore the upland valleys, while the bulls 
go on toward the wind-swept peaks, where 
they feed and let their antlers grow. 

The fawns are born in shady hollows chosen 
by their mothers. These must be screened 
by trees that grow near running water, in 
order that the necessities of life be supplied. 
The fawns are yellowish, dappled with white 
spots, but they are not made conspicuous by 
them. The dancing sunbeams that stream 
through the bushes are spotted too, as they 
fall on the dry leaves all around the carefully 
hidden fawn. The big, bright eyes are more 
noticeable than the white spots. 

In a very few days after birth the fawns 
are out with their mothers, and by the end of 
summer their spots fade. They get a new 
coat in late fall and are rid of their spots 
forever. 



The Elk, or Wapiti 299 

Toward October the bulls have rejoined 
their families, splendid in new antlers and 
glossy new coats of bluish gray. Now the 
pride of the elk shows in the way he lifts his 
head crowned with those shining antlers. 
His eye is bright, his voice calls a challenge 
to any and all rivals. His neck swells; his 
bugling wakes the echoes; he is ready to fight. 

The cows, too, are in new coats and their 
pretty fawns are by their sides. It is a splendid 
sight, the hundreds moving after their leader, 
who is an old cow. 

George Bird GrinnelTs pen picture of a 
herd of elk is so vivid that I quote it here : 

"From a distant ravine comes a shrill, sweet 
whistle of a great bull elk as he utters his bold 
challenge to all rivals, far and near. You can 
see him plainly as he walks out from the timber 
and slowly climbs the hill, followed by the 
group of watchful cows; and he is a splendid 
picture. Short-bodied, strong-limbed, round 
and sleek-coated, he is a marvel of strength, 
if not of grace. His yellow body is in sharp 
contrast with the dark brown head and mane, 
and the hugely branching antlers, widespread 
and reaching far back over his shoulders, 
seem almost too much for him to carry; so 
that as he marches along with ponderous 



300 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

tread each step seems to shake the earth. At 
intervals he throws back his head and utters 
his bugle call, and before its wild notes reach 
the ear you can see the white steam of his 
breath as it pours forth into the frosty air. 
His cows feed near to him as he steps along, 
or if one straggles too far he moves slowly 
toward her and shaking his mighty horns warns 
her to return. If you fire a shot at one of 
that band, speedily the old bull will show him- 
self the herder and protector of his family. 
Rushing about from point to point he will 
gather up the cows and calves into a close 
bunch and will drive them off over the hills, 
threatening the laggards with his horns and 
using them, too, with cruel effect, if the cows do 
not hurry. No chivalry, this, on the part of the 
old bull. He drives them forward, not because 
he wishes to protect them from death, but be- 
cause the cows are his and he does not intend 
to be robbed of his wives and children." 

The progress down to the valley is marked 
by tragic encounters between rival stags. The 
weaker one is often killed outright. Some- 
times the horns become locked so that neither 
combatant can free himself, nor longer injure 
the other. They struggle till the strength of 
the weaker one gives out. The herd moves 



The Elk, or Wapiti 301 

on and leaves them; nothing can help now. 
The survivor is the most to be pitied. If 
wolves attack them, they bring death merci- 
fully soon. 

In the Big Horn Mountains, east of the 
Yellowstone Park, the ranchmen and hunters 
find these interlocked antlers occasionally. 
Two fine stags are the prize of those who have 
the luck to see the fight. 

A pair of antlers firmly caught in the crotch 
between twin trees is evidence of another 
tragic death. The stag was rubbing the 
velvet off of his horns, and they became lodged 
by pure accident. His struggles to free him- 
self made things worse. 

The ranchman picks up any fine pair of 
antlers he comes upon in the woods, and 
mounts it on the ridge pole of his barn or house. 
If he shoots a fine stag, his antlers have the 
place of honour. It was a common decoration 
of the low buildings of the scattered settlers 
when I drove through that region in 1895. 
But even then elk were few. 

The "elk's tooth" which has long been a 
coveted trophy, and especially sought hy 
members of the Order of the Elks, is a small 
eye-tooth, two of which each stag has in the 
upper jaw. Those of the cows are very small, 



302 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

and so are ignored by collectors. To supply 
the demand for elk's teeth, thousands have 
been killed, in spite of efforts at protection in 
the few regions of the Rockies where the 
noble animals are still found. It is shameful. 
Once they roamed as widely as the bison. 
They have shared its fate. Have Americans 
been too busy to notice that the noblest of our 
native deer, which is the largest and finest 
of all round-horned deer in the world, is reduced 
to a few scattered herds? 

Fortunately for boys and girls who care, 
elk are easy to keep in zoological gardens. 
Small herds have been started in many parts 
of the country, and now, though they must be 
kept in by solid fences, they are on exhibition. 
We may make the acquaintance of the family 
from time to time, and see that wonderful 
performance — the shedding of the antlers, and 
their replacement by the new pair. 



HOW THE ELK CHANGES HIS ANTLERS 

FOR the first summer the baby elk is a yellow 
fawn, dappled with large white spots, its 
head as hornless as its mother's. Next year, 
if it be a male, the first horns appear, a pair 
of short, unbranched, straight spikes, called 
the "dog antlers." They, like all that follow, 
are solid and rise from blunt knobs on the 
frontal bone of the skull. Late in winter 
these baby horns are dropped, and new ones 
appear, larger and with more tines. Each 
spring the antlers are shed, and new, larger 
ones, with more branches take their places. 
If the stag is sick, or is injured while the 
horns are growing, they will be inferior. If the 
following year finds him in perfect condition, 
the antlers will be superb. Year by year they 
register the health of their wearer. No two 
antlers are alike, even on the same head. 

Don't believe the story that counting the 

points counts the years of a stag's life. Men 

who have herds of elk have kept the antlers of 

one stag, year by year, as he cast them off. 

303 



304 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

They find a gradual increase in size and weight, 
and number of points, but no tally of the years. 

Dr. Hornaday kept an elk's calendar one 
year at the New York Zoological Park to answer 
the oft-repeated questions; and, to make the 
doubters believe that the elk sheds his antlers 
every spring and gets another set, he had 
photographs taken of various stages of the 
performance. The biggest elk in the herd 
was the subject chosen. Here are the main 
dates, and their record: 

March 21. Antlers dropped, one nine hours 
after the other. They break off flush with 
the horny base, and leave a raw spot. This, 
a few days later, is a pad of thick skin, full of 
swollen blood-vessels. It rises into a dome 
shape, with surprising quickness. 

April 8. Each budding antler looks like a 
big brown tomato. Now a lump appears on 
the base of each, in front — the "brow tine" 
is started. 

April 18. New antlers about five inches 
long, thick and stumpy. A second pair of 
knobs start above the first pair. 

April 30. Each antler now three-branched. 
Now the stag is most cautious in his movements, 
for the antlers are soft masses of hot blood- 
vessels, and a touch would warp their growth. 




Copyright. 1806. by A. G. Wallihan 

A group of mule deer, suddenly aware of danger 




Copyright. i8q6. by A. G. Wallihan 

The prong-horned antelopes signalling to others with their 
cushion-like rump-patches 



y. , . ... 



^m^KHgm9f m *«w " 







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en 



S 

H 



How The Elk Changes His Antlers 305 

On this date a f awn was born and hidden by 
its mother in the rocks, among which it lies 
like a dead thing, instinctively fearing to be 
discovered and injured. The mother goes 
to suckle it often; then goes away. 

May 10. Winter coat of elk shedding. 
They all look very shabby. 

June 1. Shedding half finished. 

June 18. Antlers now full length but club- 
like, well-haired; tips flat. Shedding of coat 
finished. 

July 20. Antlers now sharp at tips. 

August 1. Velvet still on antlers. 

August 15. Elk begins to rub antlers on 
trees to remove velvet. 

August 22. Antlers almost clean. Tips 
white, bases bloody. Velvet still hangs on 
in strings. 

September 15. Shedding complete. 

October 1. Herd in best condition. Ant- 
lers clean. Coats thick, glossy, rich colour. 
Fawns playful. Bulls in fighting mood, 
" bugle" like a locomotive's scream, ending 
in loud howl. 

A stag, with new antlers, is a dangerous 
animal. It is well for the fawns that they 
are nimble and quick-eyed to keep out of their 
father's way, and miss the quick thrusts of 



306 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

his horns. And well for all concerned that 
while the cows were occupied with their help- 
less young, the stags were as busy taking care 
of their horns, quite as much weakened by 
this great drain upon their strength as the 
cows in caring for their fawns. Nature seems 
to have arranged things just so, in the family 
life of the elk. 



THE MOOSE 

EVERY autumn, thousands of sportsmen go 
to Maine and New Brunswick to hunt and 
fish, and live the life of primitive man, which 
restores tired nerves and brain better than any 
medicine. The moose is the largest of all 
living deer. For this reason, moose hunting 
is one of the favourite kinds of sport in the 
Northern woods. It is not confined to the 
northeastern corner of the country either, for 
the range of this great animal stretches across 
British North America, and broadens till it 
reaches Alaska and the Bering Sea. 

A moose loves the water. He feeds upon the 
roots and fleshy pads of water-lilies that grow 
along the shores of lakes and streams. Autumn 
brings the open season, when hunters are per- 
mitted to shoot moose. You will find them 
going in canoes to places where the game is 
likely to feed. They overtake them swimming. 
Or they decoy the bull moose to close range 
by imitating the call of the cow. 

A little trumpet, made out of a birch branch, 
307 



308 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

in the hands of a skilful guide, is a wonderful 
instrument. It utters a long, low, mournful 
"Moo-waugh'-yuh," softly the first time, for 
there may be a big moose close by that will 
answer it by a sudden plunge that upsets the 
canoe. After a wait of ten or fifteen minutes, 
a second call, a trifle stronger, may follow. It 
falls softly on the silent woods, for it is night. 
If there is no wind, the sound carries far. So 
keen is the hearing of the moose, he may hear 
it and follow, yet be a long time in coming up 
with the sound. If the wind is toward him, 
the shrewd animal knows that man, his enemy, 
is there, and he goes in the opposite direction. 
If luck is with the hunter, the guide hears 
the great lumbering animal coming toward 
them through the woods. The crashing under- 
growth tells where and how near he is, and at 
length the form of the giant appears on the 
edge of the water, distinct, and overwhelming 
in size. Even an old hunter is thrilled at the 
bigness of a moose that rears his frame suddenly 
out of the gloom of the forest. A wide spread- 
ing, massive crown of flattened spikes his 
antlers form; the long head tapers to the 
pendulous muzzle, the shaggy dark hair adds 
size to the thick, short neck and height to 
the high shoulders. 



The Moose 309 

The answer of the bull moose is a short 
one, "Oh-ah!" to the call of the cow. "Moo- 
waugh'-yuh" is said by some hunters to be 
"Who are you?" Coming down to the shore 
to answer, the giant becomes a target for the 
hunter's bullet. A splendid head of antlers 
may be the trophy of the evening's adventure. 

Under the throat of a moose hangs a long, 
or short, tail-like appendage called the "bell." 
Nobody knows its use to the animal. All 
moose wear it, and it seems to be merely a 
fold of the skin, round or flat, and hairy on the 
outside. The longest one measured by Mr. 
Seton was thirty-eight inches, and was worn 
by a cow. 

Splendid as his antlers are, and huge his 
size, the moose is as far from beautiful as 
any member of his family. Long ears and 
flabby muzzle, he looks like a caricature of 
Bottom, the w r eaver, in his donkey's head. 
The fore legs are set under the middle of the 
body, the head slanting upward like a giraffe's 
in one direction, the body tapering backward 
and downward in the other. The large and 
strong front legs are used to defend their 
owner in that helpless half-year, from January 
to July, after the antlers fall, and until the 
new pair is mature. The cow uses her fore 



310 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

feet always as weapons of defense, for she has 
no horns. 

In colour, moose are almost black on the 
body, brown on head and neck, pale gray on 
legs below the knees, and white on the belly. 
The calves are red-brown, and not spotted. 
Two is the usual number, born in April, and 
they are up and about with their mothers 
after a few days of lying hidden in the com- 
fortable nest. 

The shyness of the moose keeps them well 
to the wildest parts of the swampy woods in 
winter. They "yard" together, by families, 
trampling the snow by a maze of intercrossing 
paths, in which, by pawing, they can get at 
the branches of low trees and underbrush on 
which they must depend when ice covers the 
water plants and boggy grass they love in 
summer. 

Sometimes so many flock together in one 
yard that the supply of food gives out, and new 
paths must be trampled down in the drifted 
woods, and new yards established where the 
snow is less deep. In these enforced moving 
times the moose sees the hardest luck of the 
year. Sometimes it is a hunting party in the 
neighbourhood, or trappers whose presence 
the moose get by their keen sense of smell. 



The Moose 311 

When the men come upon the yard they find 
it deserted. 

In gait the moose is rapid but ungainly. 
He swings along at a trot, and when obliged 
to hurry, takes longer steps, setting his front 
feet close, and spreading the hind ones to 
straddle the front ones as they pass them. 
His heavy cloven hoofs make a great deal of 
noise, as do his antlers, laid back against his 
neck, but raking the branches, for all that, as 
the beast plunges along, never jumping nor 
breaking into a gallop. 

Baby moose are very tame and unsuspicious. 
They treat dogs and men with a f amiliarity that 
shows confidence, curiosity and ignorance. A 
gang of section hands came upon one that 
had strayed on to the tracks. It hurried up 
to the hand-car, and followed the men so closely 
that it was in their way, as they were setting 
new ties in place. When they were ready to 
leave, the calf tried to follow, and would have 
done so had they not put it over the fence. 
It watched them reproachfully for a while, 
then trotted into the forest. 

The torment of a moose's life in summer is 
the pest of insects. Its choicest food is the 
succulent water plants. Rising out of the 
deep water, a feeding moose will fill his lungs, 



3i2 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

as he swims about a little while, then, with 
a tremendous splash, go down to the bottom, 
where he will stay for as much as a full minute 
at a time, before reappearing. No doubt the 
hours spent in the water are the only ones 
free from mosquitoes and midges and flies. 
In the woods, the striped maple is his fa- 
vourite forage. This has tender shoots and 
sweet sap. By its stripped stems the hunter 
tracks the moose through the forest. It is 
called "moosewood" for the best of reasons. 
The animal " rides down" also small trees 
of birch, hemlock, spruce, and willow and 
strips the limbs by using its teeth and the long, 
prehensile upper lip. Bark is chiselled off 
of big limbs by the cutting teeth on the front 
of the lower jaw. When it eats grass, a moose 
must kneel. In this attitude it gets mosses 
on the barrens of northern Canada and Alaska. 
Our moose is the "elk" of northern Europe. 
It belongs to an ancient branch of the deer 
family, now extinct but for this species, which 
is the giant of its race. Careful measurements 
by a truthful scientist give seven feet at the 
shoulder as the height of the largest moose 
killed in New Brunswick. The Alaskan moose 
is a larger animal. So a bull moose is con- 
siderably bigger than a horse. 



The Moose 313 

Tame moose are well behaved, and are 
used as reindeer are in some parts of the Far 
North. In menageries they do not seem to 
thrive after they reach good size, probably 
because they get too little exercise when they 
get the coarse food on w T hich they thrive best. 

Laws for the protection of game protect 
moose in the hunting grounds of the Northeast. 
Much more freedom in Alaska has made the 
animals scarce there. It will be necessary to 
have game wardens there to keep all the wild 
creatures from complete destruction. This 
the governments of Canada and the United 
States will do, more and more, as the people 
realize the value of keeping hunting grounds 
stocked with game as playgrounds for the 
people. 



THE WHITE-TAILED DEER 

IN THE woods about the settlement at 
Jamestown the first English colonists caught 
their first glimpses of a deer that reminded 
them of the native deer of England. It was 
a light-footed, graceful creature, whose great 
dark eyes, circled with white, looked larger 
and brighter than eyes could be in so small a 
head. The body, grayish-brown in colour, 
nearly white on the under parts, would never 
have attracted attention, among the gray 
tree trunks, except that the deer held erect a 
long, bushy tail, black, with a wide white 
border. This flag waved behind his antlered 
head, when the deer faced the approaching 
stranger. But soon he turned and fled from 
the unknown presence, and the upright tail 
showed as a pure white plume, above a white 
pointed flank patch on each side. This strik- 
ing flash of white was the target of many a 
hunter from that early day to this. The 
fleetness of the deer was his salvation. The 
marksmanship of the colonists improved with 

314 



The White-Tailed Deer 315 

the fascinating sport of hunting the white-tailed 
deer. But the deer were not exterminated. 

In August the even, reddish-chestnut coat 
of summer is replaced by one of a beautifully 
mottled grayish-brown, that is worn until 
the following May. The fawns, born in May, 
are bright chestnut or yellowish-bay, mottled 
with white spots. 

At birth the fawn is about fifteen inches 
high and weighs less than five pounds. When 
full grown, an Adirondack buck will stand three 
feet high, measure six feet in length, and 
weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds. In 
Maine and in the Adirondacks this deer is much 
above the size of the form that the early 
colonists knew. 

The first names of many American plants 
and animals bear the name of the region from 
whence the first specimens came. For this 
reason, the white-tailed deer was called the 
Virginia deer. The settlement of New Eng- 
land, then the gradual westward movement 
of the pioneers, showed that wherever there 
were oak forests, there were white- tailed deer, 
and plenty of them. 

All the way from the limit of tree growth on 
the north to the Gulf of Mexico, and west to 
the Rockies and Texas, this deer abounded. 



3i 6 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Venison was the meat which the frontiers- 
man supplied to his family. The destruction 
of the forests, to make room for fields of grain, 
made the deer leave the Central states, except 
where extensive woodlands remain along the 
bluffy river banks. But in wilder regions, 
instead of becoming extinct the white-tails 
held their own in spite of hunters and scat- 
tered settlements. Laws protecting them 
have increased their number in many states, 
notably in New England. A short period 
each year for deer-shooting brings thousands 
of sportsmen into Maine, where they pay a 
license fee and hunt with a licensed guide. It 
is estimated that a million dollars a year is 
about the amount the state receives from va- 
cation seekers of all kinds, and fifteen thou- 
sand to twenty thousand deer are annually shot; 
yet the number of them constantly increases. 
They are a valuable natural crop, bringing 
in an increasing income, without expense, 
except the proper enforcement of game laws. 

The white-tailed deer's habits of life are 
most interesting. They explain why a white- 
tail family may live in comfort in a very small 
patch of timber, yet gunners all around them 
not know of their presence. They are lovers 
of the half-light. In twilight and early dawn 



The White-tailed Deer 317 

they are out, feeding, and they love moonlit 
nights for visits to the farmers' grain fields. 
They slip like ghosts through the shadowy 
wood paths, go under wire fences, or leap over 
close board ones. They crop the foliage of 
overhanging trees, eat greedily of clover and 
timothy grass, dote on the various small grain 
crops, turnips and garden vegetables. In 
marshy ground and ponds they drink deeply 
once a day, and find tempting food in the 
fleshy roots, leaves, and stalks of lilies, and 
other plants. The weaned fawns go with 
their mothers in these excursions for food and 
water, learning to leap fences, swim, and, most 
important, to lie low among the dead leaves 
to avoid being seen if an enemy appears. 

September brings back the bucks, splendid 
in their new antlers and the family feast 
together, while they shed their summer coats. 
Acorns they prefer to any other wild fruit. 
They grow fat and sleek before winter comes, 
and it is then that the hunter delights to go 
deer-stalking. 

The white-tail is keen of ear and nose, but 
his eyes are not so good. He doesn't stop 
to inquire its cause, as an elk would, or a mule 
deer, when he hears the crack of a twig in a 
woodland trail. His plan is to escape in the 



318 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

opposite direction from the sound. It is a 
hard matter to get within shooting distance 
of one of these suspicious creatures. Many 
a hunter has followed his trail for hours only 
to see the white signal of his own defeat, the 
tail of the fast disappearing deer, that has at 
last scented or heard him, in spite of all his 
precautions. It is a fair and fascinating 
game, deer-stalking. The easier, surer methods 
of hounding and fire-fighting are not fair to 
the deer. But to get a fat white-tail buck 
by stalking is a credit to the hunter's skill. 

The trophy of a pair of fine antlers is worth 
more to the true sportsman than two hundred 
pounds of venison. The older the buck, the 
finer and larger the crown he wears. The 
beam of an antler grows upward from the 
head, then suddenly turns forward, bearing 
three vertical, sharp tines, of almost equal 
size. These are quite unlike the antlers of 
other deer. With added years, the number of 
tines increases. 

The shedding of a deer's antlers has been 
described for the elk. It is a painless process, 
for they are dead. But the new ones are 
very much alive and sensitive, even when 
their owner rubs off the velvet. The white- 
tail endures the pain for the satisfaction of 



The White-tailed Deer 319 

polishing their sharp points, and using them 
ki combats that test the valour of rival 
challengers. 

Among these deer the accidental locking 
of horns often results in the death of both. 
The successful fighter is fierce and revengeful, 
battering his victim until it has ceased to 
show signs of life. Indeed, men, attacked by 
pet deer of this species, know that to he still 
is often the only chance to escape alive from 
the infuriated animal. 

The buck has need of all his strength and 
skill to defend his chosen does and their fawns 
of the year from wolves and cougars and 
lynxes, in the North where the snows are 
so deep that they have difficulty in getting 
about. Their small hoofs cut through the 
drifts, while the spreading, padded feet of 
their enemies act as snowshoes. Because 
these wild enemies are scarce, the deer are 
becoming more abundant close to many settled 
communities, and entering regions where 
they have never been known before. 

" Yarding" is the winter habit of this deer, 
as it is of the moose. 



THE MULE DEER 

WHEN J. J. Audubon and his companions 
explored the upper course of the Missouri 
River, seventy-five years ago, they saw for the 
first time a handsome deer, darker in colour than 
the white-tail, more heavily built and taller, 
but with shorter legs, and larger, very dif- 
ferent, antlers. Each one branches into two 
prongs, which divide again, so that a big Y 
carries two small Y's. These antlers stand 
so high that the deer looks almost as stately 
as an elk. The great ears give it its name. 
The tail is white with a black tip. 

In summer the mule deer is yellowish or 
brownish-gray; in winter it is gray. Its range 
stretches from the Bad Lands of Dakota 
south to Texas and west to the coast plains. 
It loves the rocky foothills, and in summer 
climbs up to the high plateaus and browses 
along the mountain streams. 

The mule deer's gait is peculiar. It goes 
off by a series of bounds, the four legs stiff, 
and the hoofs all striking the ground together 

320 



The Mule Deer 321 

between jumps. This is not quite as rapid a 
gait as the easy springs of the white-tailed deer, 
and it is more exhausting. But the animal is 
able to go up the broken steeps by a series of 
these jumps where dogs are not able to follow. 
The mule deer crops the tender shoots of 
poplars and willow r s along water courses, and 
is fond of new grass. But just as readily 
does it eat the pungent sage brush in drier 
ground. Enthusiasts declare that its meat is 
better than any other venison, and the skin 
makes the finest buckskin. Unfortunately, 
its curiosity leads this deer to look back when 
disturbed. This gives the hunter the few 
seconds needed for a shot. Though fawns 
are born, two or three at a time, the species 
is dying out. The wild regions where they 
live cannot be guarded by protective laws. 
These deer are not able to stand the conditions 
of life in a Zoo. So but rarely can they be 
seen in captivity. The finest specimens live 
in the Rockies, from Colorado northward. 
The one opportunity to see one came to me 
in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. I 
remember with what a thrill of pleasure I saw 
the noble creature bound away unhurt, while 
the hunter scolded us all for his missing so 
good a shot. 



322 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

The name "black-tail" is not a proper one 
for the mule deer, though it is in use. Only 
the tip of the white tail is black. The Colum- 
bian black-tailed deer of British Columbia, 
Washington, and Oregon has a full right to 
the name, for its tail is black above. The 
Californian and the Sitkan black-tails are 
near relatives. 



REINDEER AND CARIBOU 

THE American reindeer is called caribou. 
He is represented by two races and several 
different species, for the country covered by 
caribou is four thousand miles long and more 
than half as wide. 

The woodland caribou is the larger. He 
lives as far north as trees grow. The other 
race inhabits the treeless wastes. These are 
smaller, barren-ground caribou. Two large 
hoofs in front, two smaller ones behind, are 
loosely joined to form the foot of this animal. 
A strange click or creak sounds as the foot is 
lifted and set down. It is in the joint, and is 
not made by the horny nails outside. The 
weight of the body makes the foot spread out 
till it is about four inches wide and seven inches 
long. The caribou's foot is wonderful. The pad 
or "frog" shrinks away from the sharp rims in 
winter, and the animal goes sharp-shod over 
the ice, and has no fear of slipping. On fields of 
snow he does not sink, because each foot spreads 
into a big snowshoe at every step he takes. 
323 



324 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

On a long slope the caribou lets go of him- 
self and slides. If there is a lake at the bottom 
he is pleased, for nothing is more fun to a 
caribou than a long swim. The broad feet 
are perfect paddles, and the long legs give a 
long stroke. The fur floats the body, for 
each hair is a hollow, air-inflated life-pre- 
server. 

Never was animal better protected for life 
in the frozen North. A layer of fat under 
the tough hide, a dense coat of oily wool out- 
side, and then the mat of long hair, each one 
air-filled, and so a perfect non-conductor of 
the body's heat. 

For defense the caribou has his antlers 
until they fall off. In this family the does 
also are armed, though her antlers are smaller 
and simpler in pattern than those the male 
wears. The caribou's crown is like that of 
the elk and the moose. There is a round beam 
and six broad, flattened " shovels" of several 
points on a typical antler. The " armchair" 
form is worn by the barren-ground caribou, 
the extra long, round beam of each antler 
curving backward, then rising and pointing 
its tines ahead, while two broad, short- 
stemmed " shovels" go straight forward over 
the face. The woodland caribou antler has a 



Reindeer and Caribou 325 

shorter beam, and more points on its flattened 
shovels. 

The white neck, forehead, and belly contrast 
sharply with the woodland caribou's grayish- 
brown back, and darker face and legs. He 
matches the brown October woods and fades 
with the coming of spring. The barren-ground 
caribou is grayish-brown to match the dull, 
moss-covered plains, and, when snow covers 
the ground, he is almost white. 

The strangest thing in the life of the caribou 
is the drifting of herds from one place to 
another. They mass together as the buffalo 
did on the Western plains in the early part 
of the nineteenth century. A hunter, who was 
in the North as the winter of 1889 came on, 
saw these migrating herds from his camp. 
He calls it one of the most remarkable things 
he ever saw among American big game. 
Scattered bands of caribou had been seen for 
days moving southward. But early one morn- 
ing a boy rushed into camp shouting, u La 
joule I La Joule!" which is the French- 
Canadian word for "crowd," but used for this 
particular multitude. The grunting of thou- 
sands of caribou, with the creaking and clatter- 
ing of four times as many hoofs on the icy 
ground, made a murmur as of continuous, 



326 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

distant thunder. For six days they came on, in 
groups or solid ranks as regiments of soldiers, 
and nobody tried to estimate their numbers. It 
was of no use. These were the barren-ground 
caribou faring south, because snow covered 
their summer pasturage, the moss on the dry 
tundras. They were bound for the lichen- 
draped trees, their winter feeding ground. 
Instinctively they followed the lines of longi- 
tude toward the belt of tree growth. They 
do not turn aside for water, being expert 
swimmers and sure-footed travellers on the 
smoothest ice. 

The winter sends the woodland caribou, 
too, drifting farther south; spring turns the 
tide northward. The swarms of insects often 
drive them into open country, out of wooded, 
boggy ground. They often go long distances, 
as if aimlessly hopeful of finding better feeding 
grounds farther on. The gait is a long, swing- 
ing stride, breaking at times into a trot. En- 
durance, rather than speed, accounts for the 
long migrations of the caribou. The calf, born 
in June, is able to follow the mother the same 
day. By September it is weaned and looking 
out for itself. 



REINDEER FOR ALASKA AND 
LABRADOR 

DONNER and Blitzen, hitched to the sleigh 
of Saint Nick, and the others in that famous 
team, have given people, young and old, their 
ideas of how a reindeer looks. This wonder- 
ful animal of the bleak North lives on all 
continents. The Asiatic and European rein- 
deer were probably the first beasts of burden. 
In the Northern half of our continent our 
reindeer are called caribou. There is the small, 
barren-ground caribou, and the larger wood- 
land caribou. They have not been tamed 
and taught to work by the Esquimaux and 
Indians who live in the Far North. And it 
is doubtful if they ever will be. They are 
useful as food; their furry coats and tough 
hides furnish material for clothing; their 
horns, sinews, and bones serve various pur- 
poses. But dogs drag the sledges. 

Some years ago domesticated reindeer from 
Lapland and Norway were brought into Alaska, 
and a herd established there, to see if the 
327 



328 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

change of place and food could be safely made. 
The animals seemed to do well in the new sur- 
roundings. The experiment was a success. 
The Government is extending the work, spend- 
ing $25,000 yearly in it. There are 20,000 
reindeer in Alaska, those born in that country 
being larger and stronger than their parents. 
The breeding station at Unalaska and sub- 
stations at various missions have charge of 
the work. The Esquimaux like to handle the 
animals, train them to sledges, and care for the 
herds. The regions almost destitute of seal, 
walrus, and caribou will soon have the reindeer 
to rely upon for meat and fur as well as for 
hauling sledges. 

Doctor Grenfell brought a herd of two hun- 
dred and fifty Lapland reindeer to St. Anthony 
a few years ago. One hundred and fifty 
fawns were born the first year and all but 
one of them lived. An experienced overseer, 
skilled in the care of these animals, had charge 
of the herd, with two Lapp herdsmen to help 
him. They were surprised to find the rein- 
deer moss so much more abundant and luxuriant 
in growth in Labrador than in Lapland. In 
summer the animals browse upon birch and 
other trees, in winter upon the lichens that coat 
the branches, where the moss is snowed under. 



Reindeer for Alaska and Labrador 329 

The St. Anthony reindeer are carefully 
rounded up each morning by the Lapp herds- 
men. If none is missing or ailing, they are 
turned out till the next day. The overseer 
treats any sick ones, and usually puts them 
on their feet again. In Lapland, where rein- 
deer are common cattle, medical attention is 
not given them. But in Labrador they are 
expensive imported animals and treated with 
the care they deserve. The reindeer in Lab- 
rador and in Alaska have come to stay and to 
be a blessing to the people who live in those 
cold and barren regions. 



THE ZOO GIRAFFES 

ROMEO and Juliet are their names. They 
are not graceful animals, but they have 
points of beauty, many of them, and no visitor 
to the Zoo goes away, willingly, without seeing 
these wonderful African relatives of the deer 
and antelope. 

Romeo is taller than Juliet. He was born 
in 1901. At three years of age he was eleven 
feet high. At five years he was close to thir- 
teen feet. At seven years he stood fourteen 
feet high; and now, at the age of ten years, he 
is approaching the fifteen foot mark. 

A partition fence parts Romeo's yard from 
Juliet's, but they rise superior to such obstruc- 
tions, and rub noses in friendly fashion between 
the period of leisurely grazing and browsing. 
They are evidently contented, and the people 
who watch them never seem to disturb their 
calmness. The keeper is their friend, and 
when he comes into the enclosure it is always 
to do something for their comfort, and they do 
not kick nor bite him, as some fearful persons 

330 



The Zoo Giraffes 331 

always expect them to do. They often kiss 
him instead, and they obey promptly, when he 
tells them that it is sundown and time to go 
into the house. He will give them some forage 
biscuits before he locks their door for the night, 
and these they like. There is fresh water in 
their trough and good hay in the basket hung 
high up on the wall. Rock salt and a little 
bran are given as needed, and fresh raw vege- 
tables, cut in bits, they greatly like. 

In the outside pen of Romeo stands a fine 
elm but the branches are too high for him to 
reach. The trunk is protected by wire net- 
ting. If Romeo wants something to eat, he 
spreads his long fore legs wide apart, lowers 
his head, and nips off the grass, while people 
look on, laughing and wondering at his re- 
markable attitude. Evidently Nature did not 
intend giraffes for grazing. 

In the next enclosure, Juliet is showing how 
giraffes feed in their native countries. A big 
linden tree shades her from the hot sun. This 
tree has its trunk wound with wire netting. 
Ten feet or more from the ground the lower 
limbs are all dead, bare stubs, without twigs. 
They have been killed by Juliet's browsing. 
Now everything green is quite above her 
reach as she stands with fore-feet on the ground. 



332 Wild Animals Every Child Should Knoiv 

All she can do comfortably now is to gnaw 
the stubs, and get a little of the sweet sap and 
soft bark. 

But if you watch a while you may see her 
lift her fore feet on to a block, or place them 
against the fence so as to catch the wire mesh 
with her hoofs. So she rears up, her head 
among the dead branches, her nose pointed 
upward. Now her long tongue goes out, 
making her taller still by several inches, and 
you see the tip of it curl back, forming a hook 
that brings down a leafy twig, and before her 
foothold gives away she has nipped off the 
juicy morsel, and she chews it for a long time 
with evident satisfaction. Romeo looks on 
with friendly interest, but his elm offers no 
such opportunity. He must go to his elevated 
basket for a wisp of dry hay, or sprawl in an 
absurd attitude, if he wants green grass. It 
is always fun to see what he will do. 

No animal browses as high as the giraffe. 
His long fore legs, long neck, and long tongue 
give him a reach that no other animal of the 
present age can equal. His figure is most 
peculiar. The hind legs are short, the line 
of his back slants at such an angle that nobody 
could ride on his back. From his head to 
his heels is a very steep toboggan slide. 



The Zoo Giraffes 333 

When a herd of giraffes is sighted in the 
broken, sparsely wooded country of East 
Africa, the hunter cannot hope to stalk them 
unseen, for the keen eyes from their elevated 
stations can see all that goes on. But so 
unsuspicious are they that a hunter who goes 
toward them on a slightly deflected course 
is able to get fairly close before the giraffes 
move on. At first, if the men avoid noise 
and move quickly, the animals go off at a 
swinging walk awkward to see. If the men 
give chase the walk changes to a canter, in 
which the hind feet are spread apart, so as to 
straddle the front ones when they strike the 
ground. At this gait, a horse can hardly keep 
up with a giraffe. 

The two sharp horns, standing high between 
the long ears, are supplemented by a ridge- 
like third horn, broad-based and flattened in 
the middle of the forehead. The head tapers 
delicately to the round nostrils beyond which 
the upper lip extends like a thick, rounded, 
fuzzy pad. The eyes are dark, prominent, 
and very beautiful. 

The coat of the giraffe is curiously blotched 
with irregular patches of tan, separated by 
lines of white. The hair is short and lies close. 
The colour is darkest above, paler and less 



334 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

distinct in pattern beneath. The tail ends in a 
dark switch of hair that reaches to the ground. 
A short, erect mane adorns the long neck. 
The big knees are calloused, by kneeling, 
I suppose. 

Not all giraffes are like Romeo and Juliet. 
They are of the Nubian, three-horned species. 
There is a five-horned species, possibly a sub- 
species, and a two-horned species farther 
south. The best known kind is the three- 
horned giraffe. Unhappily hunters are de- 
stroying the herds of these very interesting 
and inoffensive animals, whose present scarcity 
is a prophecy of their extinction. 



THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE 

IN THE best zoological gardens of this coun- 
try a beautiful creature can be seen, whose 
traits seem to relate it to deer on one hand 
and cattle on the other. It is the antelope 
which early explorers and settlers west of the 
Missouri River found in great droves that 
swept, when startled, like a whirlwind over 
the open plains. Now those antelope herds 
have dwindled to a pitiful remnant, and would 
be extinct, except for state laws that abso- 
lutely forbid the shooting of them in most 
of the states where they still linger. 

The scientist is especially interested in pre- 
serving the prong-buck, because he is the sole 
representative of his family. The deer family 
has the moose and caribou, besides the deer. 
It has nearly fifty species, inhabiting all the 
great continents; about half of them live in 
America, including the elk and moose, which 
are the giants of the family. 

No other country has the prong-buck, nor 
any member of his family. He is alone, and 

335 



336 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

lives only in the wilds of our mountainous 
Western states. 

The horns are short, curved at tip, and a 
prong rises from the base of each and curves 
out directly over the eyes. They are shed 
every year, but when they come off they leave 
a bony core, with the new horn well started 
upon it. So they are hollow, like horns of cattle. 
The does have small spike horns. The feet 
have two hoofs, like the giraffe, and no " dew- 
claws"; the hair is pithy and harsh, over an 
under layer of wool. A short mane grows 
on the neck, and patches of long hair on the 
rump are erected at the animal's will, as a 
hog's bristles are, when he is angry. 

The antelope is dull yellowish, with brown 
trimmings above and white below. A black- 
banded collar encircles his neck. The rump 
patches are white. The yellow sands and 
alkali plains of the "Great American Desert" 
favoured the antelope. He faded into the land- 
scape when he stood still. Keen as are his 
eyes, he must often have failed to make out 
members of his own family, or herd, except for 
special signals. 

Try to see the Zoo antelopes use their signal 
system. They are at their dinner of clover 
hay, and the hair of the rump lies flat. The 



The Prong-Horned Antelope 337 

disks are closed. A dog suddenly comes up. 
Instantly the alert creature lifts its head, and 
all the long, white hair on the two rumps stands 
on end. A big white cushion suddenly and 
mysteriously appears, and out of the midst 
of it a peculiar, musky odour is exhaled. 
All the rest of the herd do as the first 
prong-buck has done, but they may not 
move from their tracks nor utter a sound — 
merely stand at attention — while the dog 
trots off. 

In the open country, antelope flash these 
signals, and throw out the pungent scent to 
let scattered members of the herd know what 
is going on. If an enemy approaches, the 
signals are exchanged and the herd bunches 
together, wheels in the safest direction, and 
runs, galloping by long leaps, with heads low. 
At times the animal goes by stiff-legged bounds, 
like the mule deer, its head high. It is the 
swiftest of all runners on our continent. 

But the white rump patch is a target for 
the long-range rifle, and hunters succeed too 
well. It does the antelope more harm than 
good in the nm for his life. 

When at bay, or defending her kids, the 
antelope strikes a terrible blow with both 
front feet. It will kill a small wolf, and cut 



338 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

a rattlesnake to pieces. The horns are short 
but they are also good fighting tools. 

The kids lie low with heads on the ground, 
their mottled coats of buff and white blending 
with the colour of the ground. They can 
remain motionless a long time, and escape the 
eye of an enemy that is hunting for them. 

September is their happiest month in the 
year. The young and old gather in companies, 
to feed and play. In games like tag the kids 
run in and out among the bushes, their parents 
often joining in the sport. Many an old hunter 
has seen these field sports going on, and also 
noted the signals of alarm given by a sentinel 
who stood guard on a point of high ground, 
and did his full duty, no matter how absorbing 
were the racing contests going on before him. 



WILD COUSINS OF CATTLE 
THE BISON, OR BUFFALO 

THE ONLY member of the family of the ox 
that is native to North America is the bi- 
son, more commonly called buffalo. Our grand- 
fathers, if they went west of the Mississippi 
when they were young men, might have seen, 
between the great river and the mountains, the 
herds of buffaloes that moved like a dark mass 
of some slowly flowing substance over the 
plains, their forms obscured by distance and 
by the clouds of dust stirred up by their cup- 
like cloven hoofs. 

Our fathers, going into the Dakotas or 
Arkansas a generation later, saw the skulls 
of buffaloes bleaching by thousands on the 
open prairies. Indians and settlers had a good 
many worn "buffalo robes," but the animals 
were gone. In an astonishingly short time the 
Indian and the buffalo both disappeared be- 
fore the white man's advance. The campaign 
of the buffalo-skin hunters makes a cruel story. 

339 



34-0 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Up in the northern part of Canada along 
the wooded streams they say that a close 
relative, the wood buffalo, is still found. 
These are the remnants of a great population, 
saved by being so far from people. Even 
these little bands are now hunted. 

The Yellowstone Park had a herd of three 
hundred wild buffaloes, but they were killed off 
by poachers until but few remained. These 
are now protected, and their increase may be 
counted upon. Private herds are being suc- 
cessfully maintained in a few states. But 
these pampered animals of zoological gardens 
and private estates have little room to range, 
and they are very poor specimens, compared 
with the bison of the prairies. The Indian 
of the reservation shows much the same con- 
trast with the noble red man who hunted the 
buffalo. 

I need not tell any boy or girl what a buffalo 
looks like. The shaggy head, the huge shoul- 
ders, the hollow, curved horns, the little feet, 
are all in the picture books, the geographies 
and the histories that describe Western life and 
Western scenery during the time the country 
was being settled, and made into states. 

The charging bull was the most majestic 
creature among American quadrupeds. The 



The Bison, or Buffalo 341 

lowered head, covered with a dark mass of 
brown hair, was set on a short thick neck whose 
size was emphasized by the hairy coat which 
extended over the huge hump shoulders. A 
luxuriant mass of black hair from chin to 
knees made the imposing front of the animal's 
body contrast strikingly with the trim hind 
quarters, for the hair behind the shoulders 
was short. 

Conscious of his strength, the buffalo would 
attack a wolf or bear without hesitation, toss- 
ing the object of his rage into the air and catch- 
ing it again on the cruel points of his polished 
horns. The strength of those shoulder muscles 
was magnificent. The fore feet struck with 
tremendous force, for the thin, sharp hoofs 
were able cutting tools, for defensive use. 

The buffalo cow has horns, and her shoulders 
hump; but she has less shagginess and less 
strength; she was never so magnificent a creat- 
ure as the bull. 

Buffalo calves are born in spring, and often 
there are twins. The mother is gentle, calling 
the calf with a low, grunting noise, never 
bawling as a cow does. The calf answers 
in the same muttering tones. The milk is 
not abundant, but it is very rich. 

In case of danger, the calf flattens itself 



342 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

on the ground, with its neck stretched out, 
and the mother circles around it, with lowered 
head, fighting off whatever enemy threatens her 
baby. In the days of the big buffalo herds, the 
wolves were their arch-enemies. The cow left 
the herd before the calf was born, and when a 
wolf discovered her hiding place, it called others, 
and they fought her until her strength was ex- 
hausted, and she and her offspring both fell 
victims to their patient, relentless foes. 

The calf, a bright mahogany red, looks and 
acts like any calf. It is defended by its mother, 
and at times by male members of the herd. 

During the summer the buffalo bull used 
to tear up the dry ground with his sharp horns, 
paw the earth clods into fine dust, then lie 
down and roll like a horse, and wallow like 
a pig, throwing up in jets what he dipped up 
in his cup-like hoofs. This dust bath drove 
away the tormenting swarms of flies and gnats. 

In the boggy spot he would work for days 
to deepen and widen a bowl-shaped hollow, 
and make a thin mud bath for himself. In its 
cooling depths he rolled and came out with a 
layer of mud caked on his furry coat. This 
defended him against insect bites during the 
summer when shedding left his flanks quite 
naked for some time. 



The Bison, or Buffalo 343 

The comfort of the buffalo was ministered 
to by flocks of birds. The " buffalo bird" still 
thrives out West, and hovers over the herds of 
cattle and elk, as it used to attend the herds of 
bison in earlier days. The name, "cow black 
bird," or "cowbird," is the one we know it by. 
This readily calls to mind the common brown- 
headed blackbird, whose efforts to sing are so 
funny to hear and to watch. The insects that 
follow herds of cattle, tame or wild, furnish 
these birds their food. The grubs that bore into 
the tough hide of the animals distress them 
more than the insects that swarm about. The 
greatest service the birds can do is to dig out 
these fat larvae, against which the big animals 
are absolutely helpless. Old hunters tell of 
seeing a dozen or more birds perched, with 
heads all pointing toward one spot, usually 
on the high shoulders of the bison, evidently 
all concerned in the digging out of a single 
grub or a group of them. When an animal 
was killed and the hunter was skinning it, 
the birds came around, as tame as you please, 
frightened not at all by the man nor by his 
horse, but eagerly prospecting for the grubs 
whose presence made lumps in the flesh and 
holes in the hide. 

Listen to the story told by an old-time 



344 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

hunter, who saw the great buffalo herds that 
surged over the plains of Montana and Wyo- 
ming sixty years ago: 

"When a blizzard came up a buffalo was 
in his element, for when the dust-like snow 
was driven into his close suit of hairy fur, he 
shook himself much as a horse does, to keep 
himself in good condition to weather the 
storm. Always on the alert, if alarmed he 
would face a driving blizzard on a keen run, 
and when all was quiet would go to feeding, 
and root up the deep, frozen snow with his 
powerful nose, leaving it in ridges at times, 
as if turned over by a plough. Nature had given 
them a fine sense for getting water, an instinct 
for stamping open frozen springs and lakes 
in the long, cold winter months. They did 
not suffer for water as cattle now do on the 
same range. When hotly pursued in the 
running hunt, a bull would leap off a high river 
bank to the water twenty-five feet below, 
and there give a fine exhibition of his wonder- 
ful swimming powers. I saw one do this, 
and at the other side plough his way through a 
low-lying river beach of quicksand and mud 
that a goose would not care to roost upon. 
At times his face, only, appeared out of the 
thin mud. Riding among the Indian hunters, 



The Bison, or Buffalo 345 

I demanded that they give him his life as a 
brave. And when they caught the spint of 
my demand, they joined in the chorus of yells 
to encourage him. Right glad I was to see 
success and safety crown the persistence which 
carried him through this desperate run for his 
life. From the quicksands he climbed the 
high bad land bluffs without any apparent 
exhaustion of his wonderful strength." 



*&* 



A hunter saw from his camp one day what 
appeared to be a human head, showing occa- 
sionally above the bank that rose on the opposite 
side of the river. With his glass he made out 
that it was a bear, watching the trail that ran 
below his station on the bluff. Pretty soon a 
pair of bison came down to drink. The cow 
was in front. The bear sprang upon her, and 
tried to drag her down. The bull, who was 
a little distance behind, charged as the cow 
swung around and gave him a chance. He 
caught the bear on his horns, and tossed him 
into the air. As he came down, he was 
caught and thrown up again. When he fell 
this time, he was so badly torn that he could 
only drag himself off to die. 

The passing of the buffalo was a feature o 
the opening of the fertile land of this country 



346 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

to cultivation. The development of any region 
drives out any inhabitants who use the land 
wastefully, as the Indians and buffalo did. 
They departed together. Civilization has no 
other way of solving such problems. We regret 
the cruelty that marked the change, but know 
that the new order had to replace the old. 



THE BIGHORN AND MOUNTAIN GOAT 

THE massive horns of this mountain sheep 
of the high Rockies, and his wonderful 
skill and daring in getting about over perilous 
crags, has led hunters to exaggerate. The truth 
is wonderful enough. But to say that the big- 
horn deliberately drops off a ledge and lands, 
without harm, on his head, hundreds of feet 
below, is to state what is untrue and absurd. 
No reasonable person can believe it. The 
horns would not be damaged, but what would 
the impact of such a fall do to the delicate 
brains? They would be utterly shattered and 
the neck would be broken. 

The most wonderful thing the bighorn does 
is to keep fat and contented, above the tree 
line, on slopes covered much of the year with 
snow. In the summer there are flowers and 
grass in profusion in the hollows. After snow 
covers these, the animal paws down into the 
drifts, and still finds sufficient provender for 
his needs. He never goes to the lower levels 
in winter. His range is the grassy belt be- 

347 



34-8 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

tween the tree line and the limits of perpetual 
snow. 

The finest trophy a hunter can get is the 
head of a bighorn ram. To shoot this wary 
animal he must follow him with the utmost 
caution, and take many chances of breaking 
his own neck. The sheep are sure-footed, 
and they run at lightning speed along narrow 
paths on the edges of precipices where the 
hunter dares not follow. Indeed it makes 
his head swim to see such feats accomplished. 
The sheep bounds along fearlessly, and looks 
down complacently upon the» hunter toiling 
up the slopes, and at a safe distance. To 
shoot such elusive, tantalizing game is the 
highest art of the sportsman. 

The unbranched horns curve backward from 
above the eyes. The ear is near the centre of the 
incomplete circle formed by the forward -pointing 
tip of each horn which is angular, ridged, 
and very massive at base. Fourteen inches 
around the base of the horn is a big specimen. 
It will measure forty or fifty inches in length, 
along the outer curve. This is the dauntless 
front that makes the hungiy wolves and cou- 
gars hesitate to meet a bighorn in a fair fight. 

Several related mountain sheep are scat- 
tered from the Arctic Circle to Mexico, but 



The Bighorn and Mountain Goat 349 

they are extremely rare and not well known. 
Evidently immigrants from the central regions 
of Asia, the home of wild sheep, moved north- 
east to Kamschatka, crossed the ice at Bering 
Strait, and came gradually down the Rockies. 
It took time to colonize such remote regions, 
but there is time enough. Animals have 
gradually scattered from their original homes. 
So have the races of men. The same thing 
is going on now. 

The Rocky Mountain goat, long-haired, slim- 
horned, with a patriarchal beard that seems 
to justify his name, is a near relative of the 
chamois and the gnu and other true antelopes. 
He is distinguished as the only pure white 
cud-chewer. He lives among glaciers, high 
above the range of the bighorn, where hunt- 
ers rarely trouble him. He blends with his 
snowy background and gets his living, nobody 
knows how. Yet he is in good flesh and faces 
life with a calm and steadfast gaze. 

In the Zoo the white goats are equally con- 
tent, and in excellent health. They climb 
over their house roof, possibly dreaming of 
the icy precipices they once scaled with equal 
safety. (See page 283.) 



THE ODD-TOED GROUP OF 
HOOFED MAMMALS 

WILD COUSINS OF THE HORSE 

THE race horse is the fleetest animal that 
runs. He has come down from five-toed 
ancestors, gradually abandoning one digit at 
a time, until now he walks on the nail of his 
one remaining toe. A broad, many-toed foot 
is good for bogs, but the wild horse has chosen 
to live on dry, solid ground, where speed has 
been developed. The bones of his wild ances- 
tors, with their feet of various patterns have 
been preserved in the rocks. Go to the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History in New York, 
and join the crowd of eager people who are 
looking at the skeletons and models of these 
prehistoric horses — the American progenitors 
of the race. 

We have no wild horses in America now. In 
Asia there are wild ones still. The Prjevalsky 
horses are in the New York Zoo. Their parents 
were captured by wild Khirgiz horsemen in 

350 



Wild Cousins of the Horse 351 

Western Mongolia. They are ponies with 
short, erect manes and no long forelocks. Their 
tails are short-haired like a mule's above, 
horse-like below, with a long brush that sweeps 
the ground. A dark stripe runs from head 
to tail down the spine, the legs, mane, and tail 
are darker than the brownish-gray body colour. 
They are strangers to us, but obviously horses. 
Nobody can doubt this. 

The wild asses of Asia are the parents of the 
donkey, which is the beast of burden in Euro- 
pean and other countries. The Persian ass 
at the Zoo has a dark stripe down the spine, 
faint crossbars on the legs and plain tan sides. 
Its ears are long, and as hay time draws near 
it lays them back, extends its nose, and utters 
a high, falsetto bray that is as funny as the 
cowbird's effort to sing. It is painful to hear 
so large an effort fizzle out in a cracked, 
squeaky voice. 

Over in another yard the zebras utter their 
barking neigh, for they, too, smell hay. "Ba- 
wa-wa!" is what they say. The most glaring 
stripes mark their bodies, in patterns clearer 
than the tiger's. Round-bodied, plump, trim 
little horses, with close, short hair, and manes 
erect. The largest species comes from Abyssinia. 
They are as big as a horse, and these are the most 



352 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

daintily striped. The smallest is the mountain 
zebra from South Africa and this one wears 
the heaviest stripes. These " jail-bird' 'horses 
always attract attention in the Zoo. What 
joy must it be to explorers to see thousands 
of them together, grazing on the plains of 
Africa, keeping company with the mottled 
giraffes, which browse the trees over their 
heads! 

The "wildebeeste," or gnu, goes by the 
popular name of "the horned horse" in 
menageries. His horse-like traits are many, 
but he is an antelope. Look at the strange- 
looking muzzle. Count the characteristics that 
place him in the company of the oryx at the 
Zoo. Read about him in tales of hunters 
returned from Africa. 



THE BLACK RHINOCEROS AND ITS 
WHITE COUSIN 

NEXT to the elephant, in shoulder height, 
stands the rhinoceros. From the African 
elephant, that stands nearly twelve feet high 
at the shoulder, and the Indian elephant, a 
smaller species, the next step down reaches 
the white rhinoceros, six feet and more in 
shoulder height, and the black rhinoceros, 
between five and six feet. These clumsy beasts 
are longer in proportion to their height than 
elephants, and they have much shorter legs. 
But the hippopotamus outclasses them in weight 
and bulk. 

The horn, or the two horns that arm the 
head of a rhinoceros, are not horns at all, but 
merely exaggerated warts. They immediately 
tell us the name of the animal, for no other 
huge creature wears horns between his eyes, 
or set in a row down the middle of his face. 
" Horned snout" is the meaning of his name. 

The foot is most interesting. Take a 
good look at one. It has three broad nails, 

353 



354 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

like little hoofs, covering the three toes with 
which the foot is supplied. They are set 
around a rubbery pad, the sole of the foot. 
The middle toe has the largest nail, for it cor- 
responds to the middle finger on the human 
hand, and the same digit is the solitary toe 
that the horse walks upon, whose nail is the 
thick, horny hoof. 

Let us stand back, now, and take a look at 
this ungainly beast, broadside. His points 
of beauty are certainly hard to find. 

Rhinoceros, your hide looks all undone, 
You do not take my fancy in the least; 

You have a horn where other brutes have none: 
Rhinoceros, you are an ugly beast. 

The hide that encloses this bulky body looks 
many sizes too big. It is made of irregular 
thickened plates that lie flat, and thinner, 
flexible tracts that lie in folds, and give the 
creature some freedom of motion. Savage 
tribes in some parts of Africa prize the hide of 
a rhinoceros, because they can get fifteen to 
twenty shields out of a single skin, using the 
thick portion only, and the thin sections are 
useful in other ways. No arrow can pierce 
one of these shields. 
Ugly as the huge body is, the heavy, low- 



The Black Rhinoceros 355 

hung, concave head, with its vicious-looking 
horns, small, pig-like eyes, and wobbling, 
cornucopia-like ears, is the least attractive 
part of the beast. Ugly, unintelligent brute- 
strength is the means by which this creature 
makes his way through the world. The mas- 
sive shoulders suggest that terrible work can 
be done by the horns, when the animal can 
reach the object of his anger. The only amus- 
ing feature is the long, thin tail, tufted at the 
end, and switched from side to side when the 
animal is labouring under any excitement; 
held aloft when charging, or escaping from 
hunters. 

The black rhinoceros has a sharp-pointed, 
horny-tipped upper lip that is flexible and 
extensible, and is used as a grasping organ. 
The white rhinoceros has a broad, squared 
snout, with no sign of a proboscis. It eats 
grass only. The black species is a browsing 
animal. The hook-like tip of the upper lip 
is in constant use, pulling down the branches 
of the thorny acacias, and cactus-like euphor- 
bias that are abundant on the dry uplands. 
It does not graze, but lives entirely on the 
stems, roots, and foliage of shrubby under- 
growth, which it grinds between the ridged 
cheek teeth, after tearing them up (or down) 



356 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

by the use of the horns and horny lip, assisted 
by the cutting teeth. A group of feeding 
rhinos make a loud, champing noise, which 
tells their whereabouts in the dead of night. 
They feed by day, also, if the weather is wet, 
and the pasturage scant. It is their preference, 
however, to sleep by day hidden in thick patches 
of jungle grass or thickets of thorn-bush. 

The white rhinoceros is oftener seen in 
museums than in menageries, for these animals 
are rare now in the regions where not fifty 
years ago hunters found them in great num- 
bers. The craze for the horns that struck the 
ivory merchants about thirty years ago turned 
the attention of traders at the African ports 
from the elephant to the more timid, more 
easily captured rhinoceros, and the white ones, 
being larger animals, were more nearly exter- 
minated than the black ones by the swarms 
of hunters that went after them. 

The white rhinoceros is not white, but gray. 
It may be paler than the other species, but 
any individual's colour depends upon the col- 
our of the soil in which he took his last dust 
bath, or the mud in his last cool wallow. 
Ticks and other insects establish themselves 
in crevices of the skin, and pester the great 
brutes, which have to roll in mud or dust to 



The Black Rhinoceros 357 

get relief. They are like pigs in their evident 
enjoyment of a wallow. 

The best friend the rhino has is the rhinoc- 
eros-bird, which stays with him, sleeping and 
waking, perched on his back, pecking in the 
crevices in the skin and devouring the ticks 
and other parasites that make life a burden, 
by their continual activities. Besides this 
service, the bird is the rhino's sentinel, his 
alarm clock. Stupid at all times, and a heavy 
sleeper, the rhinoceros does not know that 
danger is near until the bird leaves off its 
monotonous pecking at insect burrows in his 
tough hide to flutter, screeching, about his 
head. This rouses the animal to a sense of 
danger. 

A frightened rhino is likely to do a hunter 
or his horse harm, if they are at close quarters, 
and the wind is in his favour. The nostrils 
are dilated to scent the enemy, and the conical 
ears are turned from one direction to another 
to locate him. The sense of sight is very poor, 
but smell and hearing are keen. The blind 
plunge of the angry beast may end in the 
tearing of a bowlder out of its place by the 
horn, the eyes being unable to distinguish 
objects with clearness. The experience of 
many hunters was useful to Mr. Dugmore, who 



358 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

let a charging rhino come at him, made the 
picture at fifteen yards, after which a shot 
from the gun of his attendant turned the 
brute aside. If this plan had failed, it would 
have been possible for the photographer to 
escape by a quick leap to one side. The 
momentum of the rhino's body carries him 
in one direction. He must slow down in order 
to change his course. Instead of attacking, 
the beast will often turn tail and run away. 

The speed of a running rhinoceros is aston- 
ishing. It never gallops unless wounded, and 
therefore panic-stricken. The beasts wander 
long distances in search of water, in seasons 
of dry weather, and hunters need the best 
of horses to follow wounded rhinos, so great 
is their endurance. The cry of one of these 
frightened animals is a shrill squeal, or a loud 
snort, as it is about to attack. The male 
utters a succession of deep grunts, at times, as 
he feeds. 

One hunter tells of a white rhinoceros whose 
curiosity was so roused by the light of his 
campfire that it came close up to the tent, 
and only firebrands, thrown at it, drove it 
back into the dark. 



AFRICAN ELEPHANTS AT HOME 

IF YOU and I should ask some great hunter, 
like Mr. Selous, to tell us what would be a 
pleasant and safe way to get a good look at 
some wild elephants, at home in the jungles 
of Africa, I fancy that he would laugh out 
loud. Then, seeing our disappointment, he 
might put on a sober look, and say: "You 
must go in an airship of some kind. And be 
sure that you get it insured against accidents 
of all kinds. For elephants are not expecting 
to see any people except hunters, who come to 
kill them. You will have difficulty in making 
them believe that you are friendly, but merely 
curious, strangers, if you come tumbling down 
upon them, out of the sky!" Ail of which 
is good advice, and every word true. 

But I am sure that stranger things will be 
happening before many years than sailing 
over the jungle in an aeroplane, and I shall 
not be surprised if some of the boys and girls 
who read these pages have that very pleasure 
in store for them. They will not have to rely, 

359 



360 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

after that, on what others have written and 
told about how wild elephants behave when 
they are living their own wild life. The things 
told us by hunters and explorers make us eager 
to see for ourselves, when the chance comes. 

Most of the elephants people see in the 
menageries are Indian, for in India wild ele- 
phants are caught and tamed for just such 
purposes, and to become beasts of burden. 
In Africa hunters kill elephants for food, for 
their ivory tusks, and for sport. It may be 
impossible to tame a beast so large and fierce. 
We can but wonder where and how Hannibal 
got the elephants that formed a part of the 
great army he sent against the Romans. 

The largest African elephant known stood 
between eleven and twelve feet high, with tusks 
that measured nearly twelve feet; and the 
heaviest pair of tusks ever taken weighed 
two hundred and ninety-three pounds each, 
with a girth of twenty-six inches at base. The 
males are larger than the females. The 
convex forehead, huge ears, and concave back 
mark this species. The proboscis has a dis- 
tinctly ringed structure, and ends in two pro- 
jecting points. Both male and female have 
tusks, one on each side of the upper jaw. The 
teeth are grinders, and, during the life of an 



African Elephants at Home 361 

individual, six of these are supplied in each 
half jaw. As the first get worn down by use, 
it is finally broken or merely shed, and the 
next one, which gradually moves forward in 
the jaw, replaces the old one. Others are 
coming on, working forward, in order. Each 
one has a long, oval crown, made of vertical 
ridges of ivory, alternating with cement, and 
bordered with harder enamel. 

The small, short tusks of cow elephants 
are most valuable because they are the best 
for making billiard balls. A pair weighing 
twenty pounds brings a better price than a 
pair weighing several times as much. "Soft 
ivory" from East Africa has a higher market 
value than "hard ivory" from the West Coast. 

Two to four hundred elephants could once 
be counted in the herds as they moved across 
country. Hunting has greatly reduced these 
numbers. Only four herds are left in South 
Africa, and these are saved by Government 
protection, or they would have been extinct 
years ago. In the middle country, and near 
the Nile sources the wilderness is still king, 
and herds have not yet been so reduced as to 
need protection other than that which nature 
affords them. But great quantities of ivory 
have been taken and exported during the past 



362 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

twenty years. It is for this that elephants 
are chiefly hunted. 

Sometimes a herd has a tuskless elephant; 
occasionally a single tusk is seen which never 
had a mate. These are exceptions to the 
rule. Broken tusks are common. The end 
is rubbed down to a smooth chisel point by 
patient work against the bark of trees. The 
right tusk is worn down by use till it is 
shorter than the left one. The negroes of 
the Sudan call this hard-worked tusk, hadatn, 
"the slave.'' 

The young are about as big as a well-grown 
hog when they are born. The herd, if it is 
on the march, waits two days for the little 
chap to get the use of his legs; then the pro- 
cession advances, the mother helping the baby 
over hard places, but for the most part keep- 
ing it under her own body, where it is protected 
from danger of being stepped on or prodded 
by the tusks of clumsy big brothers. Here, 
too, the little one often refreshes itself with 
milk from the teats between the fore legs of 
the mother. In a few weeks it is able to eat 
tender grass, and is so independent that it 
earns a good many cuffs and scoldings by rash 
excursions out from under the mother's body. 

It is common for the herd to break up into 



The African Elephants at Home 363 

small parties which range over the country, 
separated a mile or two from the rest, but in 
some sort of communication all the time. A 
group of old males will be together, and the 
younger ones with the cows and calves. One 
bull may go by himself, but the idea that these 
separated ones are more vicious than the others 
is denied. The older an elephant the larger 
his tusks, but with advancing years, his fight- 
ing temper subsides. Young bulls and cows 
are more dangerous than the old bulls. 

"How old is he?" Nobody knows surely 
the age an African elephant attains. It is 
believed that he reaches maturity in twenty- 
five years, and lives over a century. Jumbo was 
an African, and we know how long he was in 
captivity. But how old was he when captured? 
Nobody has marked a young elephant in the 
wild, and seen it again at the end of its days. 
Some day these things will be worked out as 
they have been for other animals. 



HOW THE ELEPHANT MAKES 
A LIVING 



THREE things elephants must have: food, 
drink and shelter. Until the water fails, 
the herd prefers the dense jungle of "wait-a-bit" 
thorn trees, hardly ever taller than a good- 
sized elephant. The sun, beating down on 
their unprotected heads and backs, does not 
disturb their comfort at all. The thorns that 
torture men and horses and form a barrier 
to progress, the elephants trample under foot 
or brush aside without noticing, they are so 
strong, and their hides so thick. Forests of 
tall trees are not liked by elephants. They 
will only enter them in order to reach some 
region beyond the woods, where good feeding 
grounds are to be found. 

When the rainy season comes, the streams 
and lakes are full, and springs flow, so that 
there is no lack of water. The plant world 
revives, and elephants grow fat and lazy if 
undisturbed by hunters. The herds make 
their headquarters in open, dry uplands that 

364 



How the Elephant Makes a Living 365 

at any other season are too dry. Here the 
elephants feed on the succulent bark and roots 
of trees and shrubs, but they rarely eat grass. 
They browse among the tree tops. Besides 
leaves, they eat with great zest the fruits of 
various trees. And you never could guess 
how these great, clumsy animals pick the fruit 
from a high tree! 

One hunter tells of seeing a young bull over- 
throw a good-sized umglosi tree, full of sweet- 
tasting fruit, by successive bumps and pushes, 
using the thick part of his trunk as the bumper, 
and his whole body as a battering ram. When 
the ground is wet, these trees are not so 
solidly held in place by their roots. The 
moment the tree fell, all the young elephants 
hurried to it, and began picking off the fruits, 
one at a time, and carrying them to their 
mouths. It is astonishing how skilfully and 
quickly the tip of the trunk did this work. 

Tramp, tramp, tramp! The wild elephants 
are migrating to higher ground, where rains 
will swell the streams and set the springs 
flowing, while the lowland jungles are parched 
with heat. They travel by night, and if 
need be, by day also. If hunters are after 
them, they may keep up the march for twenty 
hours at a stretch, stopping only in the hottest 



366 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

hours to rest. The elephant takes a long 
step, and when alarmed quickens its gait into a 
swinging, or shuffling trot, which wears out 
its pursuers, horses and men. The trained 
runners have to exert themselves to keep up 
with the clumsy giants. 

In a panic of fear the elephant breaks into 
a run; but this gait soon exhausts it, and a 
damp spot of perspiration shows above each 
eye, the two pores being in the hollow, and 
plainly seen. The overheated beast has a 
strange habit of thrusting its proboscis down 
its throat, and pumping from its stomach as 
much as a bucketful of water, which it spouts 
over its shoulders. If water is scarce, for 
external use at least, the creature gathers a 
trunkful of sand, and showers its back with 
this instead. 

When not disturbed, elephants like to climb 
slowly to the top of high hills, though their 
poor, little, near-sighted eyes do not give 
them the reward of seeing the wonderful 
African scenery that travellers in those wild 
regions marvel at. It costs some effort to 
carry their huge bodies up the ragged slopes. 
Is it for the pleasure of coming down, like an 
avalanche on the Alps? Their weight gives 
their bodies tremendous momentum. They 



How the Elephant Makes a Living 367 

sit on their haunches, and slide, without dam- 
age from friction, so thick is their tough skin. 

When a stream is reached, too deep for 
fording, they swim, with evident pleasure 
if the water is warm. Tail and trunk are 
held erect. What a funny sight a swimming 
elephant must be! Sometimes only the trunk 
is visible above the surface. Through it the 
submerged beast breathes peacefully, and 
finally scrambles to his feet on the opposite 
shore, possibly to rub his wet skin thoroughly 
by rolling in a mud wallow before proceeding 
on the journey. 

The elephant is a noisy creature in his 
native jungle. In the herd, the mothers are 
constantly scolding the youngsters. The ba- 
bies scream in high, loud, complaining voices. 
They are answered in deeper tones by their 
anxious mothers. Deep rumblings and growl- 
ing throat noises, and snortings through the 
trunks are made by the feeding members of the 
herd. If an elephant sees a man moving up 
toward the herd, it utters a sharp, high-pitched 
series of angry screams, and charges down 
upon him without a moment's pause, tail and 
trumpet held aloft, and ears waving. There 
is no chance of escape for the hunter who 
turns and runs. His only safety lies in his 



368 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

rifle. The ball will check the beast's onset, 
though it has not hit a vital spot. Once turned 
aside, the beast loses his advantage. It is 
quite possible that if the hunter lies low he 
will escape the eye of his adversary, who 
returns to the herd, bewildered. 

The legs of an elephant are jointed to the 
body in a way to give the utmost freedom of 
movement. The fore foot has five toes, but they 
are so concealed that their presence is shown by 
the five broad nails. African elephants have 
either three or four nails on the hind foot. In 
the Indian species the number is four. The 
sole of the foot is a thick, leathery pad. 

Elephant's foot is considered a great delicacy. 
It is placed in a pit among hot stones, and 
roasted until the bones and sinews turn to a 
jelly-like substance which is dipped out of 
the leathery covering with spoons. Hunters 
say it is really delicious. 

Palm nuts are a favourite food of elephants. 
The chief food is the soft inner bark of certain 
trees, especially the machabel. The elephant 
may butt down a tree over a foot in diameter 
of trunk. Saplings only two or three inches 
through they twist off with their trunks. 
Another plan, and the most usual one with 
large trees, is to cut through the bark with the 



How the Elephant Makes a Living 369 

tusks, partially girdling the tree, then loosen- 
ing the end of the bark layer at one point, 
seizing it with the trunk, and peeling off a 
strip that tears out to the end of a high limb. 
Only the succulent inner layer of these bark 
strips is eaten. The outer part is discarded. 

The horizontal roots of trees are easily 
located by the elephant's acute sense of smell. 
Next, the fore feet begin digging away the soil 
that covers the hidden root. When it is un- 
covered, the tusk pries it out of the ground, 
and the sappy portion is separated, by chewing, 
from the woody fibre, which is not swallowed. 

From nine till four, the hottest part of the 
day, is the elephant's siesta. He rests after 
a full breakfast that has taken from three till 
nine. How you would laugh to see him sleep- 
ing peacefully, standing upright on his four 
pillar-like legs, with regular waving and twitch- 
ing of the great ears, as if to brush away the 
flies! All the time the scorching sun beats 
down on his head and back, for he rarely 
stands under any shelter. Mr. Selous says 
that the African elephant never lies down, 
except when it rolls in the mud or water. 

What a tiresome thought that a great crea- 
ture, weighing more than any other beast, 
should never lie down to rest! 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 

AND the Lord of the Jungle was Tha, first 
of the Elephants. He drew the Jungle 
out of deep waters with his trunk; and where he 
made furrows in the ground with his tusks, there 
the rivers ran; and where he struck with his 
foot, there rose ponds of good water; and 
where he blew through his trunk, thus, the 
trees fell. That was the manner in which 
the Jungle was made by Tha." 

It is almost worship — the feeling with which 
the people of India regard the elephant. No 
other animal gives his life to service with such 
complete surrender, such gentleness and such 
intelligence. African elephants are wild. No- 
body attempts to tame them, except occa- 
sionally for purposes of exhibition. They are 
big fellows, and their immense, flapping ears 
make them the wonder of the menagerie. 
Their tusks of ivory are often eight feet long. 

But in India the elephants are smaller, 
with shorter, lighter tusks, and smaller ears; 
with four toes on the hind feet, five on the 

370 



The Indian Elephant 371 

fore feet. The head is oblong, with a concave 
forehead. 

You will hear people say in India that an 
elephant, when he lives free in the jungle, 
never dies. It is because the bones of dead ele- 
phants are not found. Others explain this 
strange fact by saying that when ready to die 
the old elephant goes away to some appointed 
place, far from those parts of the jungle that 
the eye of man has looked upon, and there lies 
down to die. Have we not heard that of the 
caribou in our own country! The rocks of 
northern India are called by a famous geolo- 
gist "a great graveyard of fossil elephants." 
If prehistoric elephants died, probably their 
descendants are but mortal. But as to the age 
of an elephant, nobody can be sure, except 
of the few born in captivity, and the age an 
elephant may reach is still a matter of estimate 
and a good deal of guesswork. 

The jungle folk guess eighty years as the 
span of a lifetime, with one hundred and 
twenty years as the extreme limit. English- 
men who are experienced in the capture of 
wild elephants for the army, think a century 
and a half about the limit. Mr. Kipling says : 
" Seventy is a ripe age for an elephant." 
Gunda, a big Indian elephant in the New York 



37 2 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Zoological Park, was born in 1895. His 
growth is recorded on a placard in front of 
his cage. In 19 10 he stood eight feet and 
nine inches high at the shoulder. 

Signs of age are read in the ears of elephants, 
The upper rim does not curl over before the 
sixth year. At twenty-five years, an elephant 
is full grown, but is not mature until thirty- 
five. Forty years after, it should be in good 
working condition. As age increases the 
flesh becomes flabby, the bones more prominent, 
and the skin wrinkled. This shows most 
plainly on the head. The temples are sunken. 
The feet are set down heel first, and the gait 
is uncertain and slow. 

When first born a baby elephant weighs 
about two hundred pounds, and stands about 
three feet high. His trunk is stiff, and meas- 
ures close to ten inches. For six months the 
youngster takes no food but milk, which he gets 
from his mother's udder, located between the 
fore legs. Though the young are born between 
two and three years apart, one elephant will be 
seen in the jungle with two, and often three 
calves, and suckling them all, though tender 
grass is added to the milk diet at six months, 
and from this time on they graze and browse. 
But their mother is slow to wean them. 



The Indian Elephant 373 

The herd lets the mother elephants and 
their babies set the pace as they journey. Two 
days after the calf is born it is able to keep 
up with the procession, the mother helping 
it over rough places, holding it with the trunk 
when streams must be crossed by swimming. 
Older babies climb on to the mother's back, 
while she swims, and gradually they learn to 
swim alone, and like it. No land animal is 
a more expert swimmer than an elephant. 
Sanderson tells of a herd of nearly one hundred 
that crossed a body of water without the loss, 
or the lagging behind, of one, though they were 
six hours at a stretch without touching bottom. 
After resting a little while on a sand bank they 
proceeded, swimming the remaining distance 
in three hours. 

Before it is two years old the elephant sheds 
its tusks — the little milk tusks drop out. One 
by one the grinding teeth slip forward from 
the back of the jaw, get worn out by use, fall 
out and are replaced by the one next in line. 
Though they graze and forage in the rice fields 
and on other crops of the farmers, elephants 
do not chew the cud, as cattle do. 

Jungle elephants visit salt licks, and eat 
earth that contains soda. These are medicinal 
doses, taken by strict vegetarians, whose pas- 



374 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

tures extend from the low jungle to the forests 
of the uplands. The rainy season sends them 
higher and higher into the hill country, 

A baby elephant talks to its mother in 
snuffly throat noises, which are answered in 
kind. A purring in the throat, with funny 
squeaking sounds made in the trunk express 
the comfort and well-being of the grazing 
animals. If an alarm is sounded, one will 
express fear or confusion by shrill, brassy 
trumpeting through the uplifted trunk; 
another thumps the tip of the trunk on the 
ground, driving the air out in such a way as to 
make deep, resonant sounds like the bending 
of a sheet of tin; another utters a deep roar, 
made in the lungs; another makes a hoarse 
grumbling noise in the throat. A wild ele- 
phant alone will sometimes terrorize a neigh- 
bourhood by charging upon every person he 
meets on the whole length of a road. 



HOW WILD ELEPHANTS ARE CAUGHT 

IF YOU are ever asked to go to a camp in 
Assam, in India, close to the "keddah" 
(stockade), to see the wild elephants taken out by 
the "keonkies" (tame elephants), don't decline. 
It will be the most thrilling experience of your 
life, with enough danger in it to add a certain 
zest one never feels when he is safeguarded 
against all harm. 

The government of India sells at auction 
to the highest bidder the right to hunt wild 
elephants in the jungle. It is no free-for-all 
business. One district is leased for one year, 
and the buyer of the right takes a troop of 
coolies up into the foothills, and they fell 
trees to build the stockade. Along about 
October, the wild elephants are due to come 
down from the hills to visit the salt licks. 
Close to one of the best of these springs of 
salty water the stockade is built, before it is 
time for the elephants to arrive. The keddah 
is a pen, fenced with a wall of logs, set close 
together, driven deep into the ground, braced 

375 



376 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

with posts on the outside, and roped together 
besides. A ditch is dug a little inside the wall 
all around, so that the frightened and angry 
elephants cannot stand near enough to it to 
use their full strength upon the wall. The 
gate is made as strong as the wall and hung 
so that it drops into place from above by the 
loosening of ropes. 

Next, a fence is made by felling trees on 
each side of a path leading down to the salt 
lick. An opening is left on the side from which 
the elephants are accustomed to come down. 
Men stationed on platforms built in tree tops 
outside the stockade watch night and day 
for the arrival of the elephants. "Clackers" 
are put up in trees about the salt licks, and men 
are stationed near with guns. When the herd 
arrives, the gunners fire blank cartridges, and 
strings attached to the clackers are pulled so 
that they make a deafening noise. The 
elephants stampede in the only direction that 
isn't full of the terrifying din. The fence guides 
them to the only silent place, the stockade, 
into which they plunge and the fall of the 
huge gate shuts them in. 

Finding themselves in a trap does not quiet 
the nerves of the elephants, nor calm their 
anger. They rush at the enclosing wall, but 



How Wild Elephants are Caught 377 

blunder into the ditch that protects it. Men 
are mounted on top of the stockade, waving 
torches and thrusting spears into all that can 
be reached. With trunks held aloft the ele- 
phants charge wildly about, trumpeting and 
trampling on calves that happen to be thrown 
down in the excitement. 

Three days the elephants are without food 
or water. This weakens and calms them. 
Then the gate is unfastened and lifted and 
tame elephants are let in, mounted by men 
dressed in dark clothing, so as to attract little 
attention. These men carry great rope nooses. 
They are ready for hard, dangerous work. 

It is a grand spectacle, the stately entrance 
of the mounted keonkies. Outside the gate 
they stand ready, while in a solemn chant, three 
times repeated, the native elephant-catchers 
call on their gods for success, and freedom 
from accidents. It is a perilous business, full 
of surprises. When the chant dies away the 
gate is lifted, and the keonkies enter, keeping 
in close ranks, and lining up in front of the 
gateway, so that none can pass. 

Now two men on their keonkies advance 
and gradually work into the herd until the 
wild fellow assigned to them is between them. 
He sees the trick and bolts. Around the 



378 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

keddah they race, but the intelligence of the 
trained elephants and their riders combine 
to overcome him, and, at the first chance, a 
noose is slipped over his head. The other 
driver throws his noose, as soon as he can, and 
the charging elephant soon finds himself out 
of breath, if he strains on either of these two 
ropes. The slip nooses must be watched to 
prevent him from strangling when he first 
feels them. Gradually the keonkies work 
their captive over to a tree, to which he is 
securely tied. The bark has been stripped 
from all such trees in the keddah, so the ropes 
will slip, and the elephant cannot exert his 
whole force on its slippery bole to uproot 
the tree. 

If the captured elephant is a tusker (male) 
he is probably still in fighting mood. He is 
left tied to his tree for a day or two, or until 
he is hungry enough to behave well. Females 
are often submissive enough to be led out when 
first roped to the keonkies. One by one the 
captives are roped and led out, to be taken 
to the training grounds where buyers come to 
bid on them. 

A wild elephant, coming down from the 
keddah, is carefully attended by the keonkies, 
for fear of its bolting. A buyer can save money 



How Wild Elephants are Caught 379 

by paying only three or four hundred dollars 
for one of these raw recruits. He turns it 
over to his drivers to be trained by working 
with his own elephants. A trained elephant 
costs a great deal more, of course. 

Sometimes a wild male elephant takes a 
notion to live apart from the herd. Such a 
solitary chap is called a "goonda," which means, 
in English, a rogue. He is likely to be very 
ugly and erratic in habits, suddenly taking 
the high road, and killing any person he meets; 
or he may break down a tent, and try to de- 
stroy every one and every thing it contains. 
When the keonkies are escorting their cap- 
tives from the foothills to the plains, a goonda 
may stampede the procession, and do a great 
deal of harm. The Government gives any- 
body permission to shoot this ugly mischief- 
maker, and the natives, whose lives he ter- 
rorizes, are greatly rejoiced to have him out of 
the way. Hunters are glad to kill him, for 
he is usually large, and his tusks make hand- 
some and valuable trophies. 



MARSUPIALIA 

The order of pouched mammals. 

Animals of low intelligence whose young are 
born in a very immature state, and carried in 
the pouch, where each is attached to a milk 
gland until able to climb in and out of the 
pouch. 

Families: 
i. Kangaroo. 

2. Wombat. 

3. Bandicoot. 

4. Tasmanian wolf. 

5. Opossum. 



381 



THE POUCHED MAMMALS 
THE OPOSSUM 

KANGAROOS and other old-fashioned, 
pouched animals are numerous in Austra- 
lia. America has just one, the opossum, found 
in both continents. The Virginia species is the 
one familiar, nocturnal beast that lives wherever 
persimmons and pawpaws grow. In the fall 
they are fat, and the negro has a heredi- 
tary appetite for fat 'possum, along about 
Thanksgiving time. 

Dogs trained to hunt coons are just as likely 
to tree a 'possum busy at his nightly feast. 
When he drops to the ground, or is dragged 
off the limb by a firm black hand, he does not 
run away, but curls up, and pretends to be dead. 
The darkey cuts a stout stick, splits the end 
and spreads it to receive the 'possum's rat- 
like tail. Suspended thus from the stick over 
the shoulder the beast is carried home, and 
perhaps fed a week or two longer before the 
"'possum dinner" is celebrated. 
383 



384 Wild Animals Every Child Should Know 

Because he steals chickens the opossum is 
black-listed by the farmer. The hunter hates 
him because he consumes the persimmons, 
those "sugary and delicious lumps of joy," 
found on the trees in late winter. 

Opossums are born in early spring, the brood 
consisting of from six to a dozen naked, pink 
babies, a little more than half an inch long. 
A delicate film covers the eyes and ears, but the 
nostrils and mouth are open, so that breathing 
and feeding are possible. The mother opossum 
carries the family about in her pouch. Does 
she ever spill one out? Never! for it is firmly 
attached to one of her teats, and this hold it 
never loses, until, weeks later, it has its eyes 
and ears open, and its curiosity aroused. 
Then it looks out and later ventures to take 
a turn on its mother's back, holding on by 
twining its tail around her legs or neck. The 
growth during these weeks has been rapid, 
the body is now hairy, and the creatures 
may truly be called pretty, if ever. They 
look at you with an expression of placid in- 
nocence. 

By the time one brood is weaned, another 
set of babies is born and lifted into the pouch; 
there they take possession of the teats, but 
their elder brothers and sisters crawl in and 



The Opossum 385 

out, and scramble over the back of the poor, 
faded mother, who has to carry them, and 
find food for them until they are as big as rats. 
No wonder she looks faded and worn out! 

"Playing 'possum" was a trick noticed by 
the colonists when they met the opossum for 
the first time. In the "Perfect Description 
of Virginia," published in 1649, occurs this 
paragraph: 

"If a cat has nine lives, this creature surely 
has nineteen, for if you break every bone in 
their skin, and mash their skull, leaving them 
for dead, you may come an hour after and they 
will be gone quite away; perhaps you may meet 
them creeping off." 



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